Willie Wood, Packers great and Hall of Fame safety, dies at 83 following battle with dementia

[pwaldo]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...B-dies-83.html

Willie Wood, the Hall of Fame defensive back who won five NFL championships with the Green Bay Packers under coach Vince Lombardi and made the first interception in Super Bowl history, died Monday. He was 83.

Wood died of natural causes in Washington, according to Robert Schmidt, his longtime friend and former teammate at Southern California. Wood had suffered from advanced dementia for several years, and had been in an assisted living facility for more than a decade.

After being undrafted out of Southern California, Wood sent postcards to several NFL teams seeking a tryout. The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder signed as a free agent with the Packers and played safety for them from 1960-71.

'The Packers saw his heart while the others saw his size,' Jim Hill, who played for the Packers from 1972-74 and now is sports director for KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, told The Associated Press. 'Vince had an eye like Joe Torre or Tom Lasorda. He could see talent where other people couldn't.'

Wood had a key interception in the first Super Bowl, returning it 50 yards to set up a third quarter touchdown that sealed the Packers' 35-10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in 1967.

'Willie was Mr. Packer on defense along with Ray Nitschke,' Hill told the AP. 'Willie set the tone and the pace for people who played safety - very smart, very articulate, a good tackler. Anything that was good about sports and football was Willie Wood.'

[bakemeister52]

RIP Willie Wood! He will be missed and I remember watching that Super Bowl, he was a good safety for the Packers!

Bake