Mansfield Athletics

Woodruff, a native of LeRaysville, graduated from Mansfield State Normal school in 1883. At Mansfield, Woodruff was a star member of the baseball team, the only organized team sport at MSNS. After leaving MSNS, Woodruff went to Yale University where he would become a star football player. Woodruff was a member of the football team from 1885-1888, during which time his teams compiled a national record 48-0 under the guidance of Walter Camp.

After receiving his law degree from Yale in 1889, Woodruff moved to the University of Pennsylvania where he was an instructor in law and athletics. A member of the undefeated Quakers football team in 1889, Woodruff became head coach at Penn in 1892 until 1901. Over the next ten years, Woodruff led his teams to a 124-15-2 record including winning streaks of 34 games between 1894-1896 and 32 games from 1896-1898.

Some of the biggest names in football played for him at Penn, including John W. Heisman, John Outland, and Charles Wharton. In 1904 he invented the “flying interference” play that would become the most effective play in football. Woodruff remembered his roots and in 1898 hosted Mansfield in a game at Penn. The Philadelphia papers were full of praise for the group of young lads from Mansfield and Woodruff would later recruit at least eight MSNS players, three of whom would go on to become Walter Camp All-Americans.

His record of 142-25-2 over 12 years ranks him as the third winningest coach in Division I history. He remains the youngest coach in NCAA Division I history to win 100 games, when he earned his 100^th at the age of 35 years 261 days old on Nov. 11, 1898. At that time he boasted a record of 100-9, second best in NCAA history. He holds the NCAA record for best winning percentage for a coach in his first, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth season as head coach.

Woodruff was inducted into the National College Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1967.