Texas A&M Basketball
Key quotes from David Britton interview
“(Saturday) was a celebration of life for Rudy Woods. I was honored that the family would reach out to me and have me speak on behalf of our teammates and on my friendship with Rudy. When I first came into the church, I was greeted by Reverend, who was a very charismatic and wonderful. They had a wonderful pictures of Rudy’s life as a kid, up to his college days, and then playing professionally. The atmosphere was full of life and energy. It wasn't sullen at all. I was talking to Jarvis Williams on my way down and it really helped me reminisce about Rudy and his time. When you guys hear about the wall, you hear about the games, you see us on TV, newspapers and now we’re reminiscing on the radio talking about playing basketball at Texas A&M. What we talked about was the spirituality. It just happened to come out, because Rudy was such a fine person. Thinking back, I don’t know anyone who didn't like Rudy or was ever mad at him. Now, he could drop the ball on the court and you’d get mad, but as a person, he was as fine an individual as someone could ever be. Texas A&M was fortunate enough to have Vernon Smith and Rudy Woods on the same team. It’s very difficult to find two human beings like that, who are unbelievable humans with love pouring out of their heart.”
“I live in Texas and my roots are grounded here because of those two gentlemen. I think about times when I was with them and how they always made me laugh. At night, we would sit and listen to Richard Pryor tell jokes and Rudy would tell me things that I cannot share with you on the radio. The camaraderie we had was unbelievable because we didn't argue, fuss or fight. We lived like brothers and it was two of the best years of my life.”
“The thing about Rudy is that after a while, I saw how he was on the court and off the court and it fit perfectly. Coming from Harlem, it was a very different world and time. I had to slow down from 100 to 20 and to have these guys with me through the whole time here was huge.”
“Rudy was 30 years ahead of his time. If Rudy, who was averaging 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots, would have been playing today, he would have been a lottery pick. He would have played with us for a year, then become a multi-millionaire. For one, he was an athlete. I used to try and keep up with his running and it was a shame. If you go to an NBA camp right now, they look to see if a big man could run. Back then, it was so much harder to try and get into the NBA. There was a small window to be seen and you had to stand out.”
“I’ve been coaching for 31 years in AAU and I always tell the kids that I don’t care what the refs call, let’s look at the statistics. If we were looking at the Louisville game, if we look back at what we did wrong, we had so many turnovers that it didn't matter what the refs called. There were certain (protections) given to Darrell Griffith. He was the player of the year, but when you’re that dude, that is what you’re going to get, I understand that. I believe we outplayed them, but they won the game. Of course, I want to say, ‘They should have done this’ but we had opportunities and should have brought it home.”
“(In the Carolina game) the funniest thing I remember was in the first OT, I told Rudy, ‘Check this out. I’m going to let this little guard think he’s beating me. I’m gonna let him go left, because he isn't strong going left. You block his shot, Rudy.’ Rudy said, ‘Okay.’ He runs by me and Rudy just stands there. I said, ‘Rudy, you were supposed to block his shot! What happened?’ He said, ‘He missed anyway, don’t worry about it.’ We were up by so many points that we started to relax. Against a great North Carolina team, especially one coached by Dean Smith, you cannot relax because they are going to keep coming at you. It was a magnificent game and one thing people don't understand is that it was an NCAA record for margin of victory in a double-overtime win. I believe that record will always stand with the 17-point margin of victory.”
“Everything was coming together and I honestly wasn't surprised that we beat North Carolina. I thought we were going to go the Final Four, and I thought we had a chance to win. I speak to Larry Brown now and he said, ‘David, we were ready for you.’ Dean Smith had told him, ‘Texas A&M has this guard and they are very, very good.’ Larry and I joke about that now. He was at UCLA at the time. That was a magnificent win and you don’t really think about it until you look back, but it was a historic game. After that, Dean Smith sent me an invitation to play in the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, but it was the year we boycotted.”
“I want to say thank you to the teammates who were there and the ones who couldn't be there. Rudy is in a great place and we love him and miss him.”
Aggie Flashback with former A&M basketball player David Britton
Key quotes from David Britton interview
“(Saturday) was a celebration of life for Rudy Woods. I was honored that the family would reach out to me and have me speak on behalf of our teammates and on my friendship with Rudy. When I first came into the church, I was greeted by Reverend, who was a very charismatic and wonderful. They had a wonderful pictures of Rudy’s life as a kid, up to his college days, and then playing professionally. The atmosphere was full of life and energy. It wasn't sullen at all. I was talking to Jarvis Williams on my way down and it really helped me reminisce about Rudy and his time. When you guys hear about the wall, you hear about the games, you see us on TV, newspapers and now we’re reminiscing on the radio talking about playing basketball at Texas A&M. What we talked about was the spirituality. It just happened to come out, because Rudy was such a fine person. Thinking back, I don’t know anyone who didn't like Rudy or was ever mad at him. Now, he could drop the ball on the court and you’d get mad, but as a person, he was as fine an individual as someone could ever be. Texas A&M was fortunate enough to have Vernon Smith and Rudy Woods on the same team. It’s very difficult to find two human beings like that, who are unbelievable humans with love pouring out of their heart.”“I live in Texas and my roots are grounded here because of those two gentlemen. I think about times when I was with them and how they always made me laugh. At night, we would sit and listen to Richard Pryor tell jokes and Rudy would tell me things that I cannot share with you on the radio. The camaraderie we had was unbelievable because we didn't argue, fuss or fight. We lived like brothers and it was two of the best years of my life.”
“The thing about Rudy is that after a while, I saw how he was on the court and off the court and it fit perfectly. Coming from Harlem, it was a very different world and time. I had to slow down from 100 to 20 and to have these guys with me through the whole time here was huge.”
“Rudy was 30 years ahead of his time. If Rudy, who was averaging 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots, would have been playing today, he would have been a lottery pick. He would have played with us for a year, then become a multi-millionaire. For one, he was an athlete. I used to try and keep up with his running and it was a shame. If you go to an NBA camp right now, they look to see if a big man could run. Back then, it was so much harder to try and get into the NBA. There was a small window to be seen and you had to stand out.”
“I’ve been coaching for 31 years in AAU and I always tell the kids that I don’t care what the refs call, let’s look at the statistics. If we were looking at the Louisville game, if we look back at what we did wrong, we had so many turnovers that it didn't matter what the refs called. There were certain (protections) given to Darrell Griffith. He was the player of the year, but when you’re that dude, that is what you’re going to get, I understand that. I believe we outplayed them, but they won the game. Of course, I want to say, ‘They should have done this’ but we had opportunities and should have brought it home.”
“(In the Carolina game) the funniest thing I remember was in the first OT, I told Rudy, ‘Check this out. I’m going to let this little guard think he’s beating me. I’m gonna let him go left, because he isn't strong going left. You block his shot, Rudy.’ Rudy said, ‘Okay.’ He runs by me and Rudy just stands there. I said, ‘Rudy, you were supposed to block his shot! What happened?’ He said, ‘He missed anyway, don’t worry about it.’ We were up by so many points that we started to relax. Against a great North Carolina team, especially one coached by Dean Smith, you cannot relax because they are going to keep coming at you. It was a magnificent game and one thing people don't understand is that it was an NCAA record for margin of victory in a double-overtime win. I believe that record will always stand with the 17-point margin of victory.”
“Everything was coming together and I honestly wasn't surprised that we beat North Carolina. I thought we were going to go the Final Four, and I thought we had a chance to win. I speak to Larry Brown now and he said, ‘David, we were ready for you.’ Dean Smith had told him, ‘Texas A&M has this guard and they are very, very good.’ Larry and I joke about that now. He was at UCLA at the time. That was a magnificent win and you don’t really think about it until you look back, but it was a historic game. After that, Dean Smith sent me an invitation to play in the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, but it was the year we boycotted.”
“I want to say thank you to the teammates who were there and the ones who couldn't be there. Rudy is in a great place and we love him and miss him.”
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