Woodson’s Track Loss May Be Steelers’ Gain

Rod Woodson made a mistake Thursday that might have earned him a couple of million dollars, give or take a few hundred thousand.

You might think someone in that position would have no cause to hang his head, but there Woodson was in the medical tent, putting bandages on his bruised knees and getting an ego massage from a girlfriend.

Woodson, who entered the USA/Mobil track and field championships with little experience in the 110-meter hurdles but world-class potential, thought he could place among the top three, perhaps even win, and earn a berth on the U.S. team in the World Championships this summer at Rome.

In retrospect, perhaps he was asking too much of himself. But if he was too confident, it was not without reason. Even though you can count the number of outdoor races he has run in the last four years and still have fingers left over, he ran the high hurdles two weeks ago at Irvine in 13.29 seconds, the second fastest time in the world this year, and beat 1985 World Cup champion Tonie Campbell.

Besides, no one could blame Woodson for looking ahead to a summer on the European track and field circuit, ending with the last week in August and the first week in September in Rome. The alternative was training camp in Latrobe, Pa., with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who made Woodson their first-round draft choice last spring and expect him to be a starting cornerback as a rookie next season.

When Woodson, through his agent Marvin Demoff, told the Steelers he might be otherwise engaged, team officials, quite naturally, thought it was a negotiating ploy. After all, Woodson had never even competed in outdoor track at Purdue because he was always involved in spring football.

But Woodson seemed sincere, even moving to Inglewood a month ago so he could work with Chuck DeBus, coach of the Los Angeles Track Club.

“I have a commitment through this meet,” DeBus said before the hurdles qualifying began Thursday at San Jose City College. “I didn’t ask for any more than that. If he makes the team, I’m sure he will compete in the World Championships. If you’re in the top three in America, you’re in the top three in the world. Why would you pass that up?”

The Steelers could offer a couple of million reasons, give or take a few hundred thousand, over the next three or four years. The 12th selection in the first round of the draft can expect to make somewhat more than minimum wage in the National Football League if he remains healthy.

But even though other two-sport lettermen such as Willie Gault, Ron Brown, Michael Carter, Herschel Walker and Vance Johnson ultimately chose football over track, DeBus said he thought Woodson might be different.

“You want my gut feeling?” he said. “Yeah, he’ll go with track, because I’m going to try to work out some things that will keep him in the sport. Maybe we can generate enough sponsorship money to make it worth his while.

“Financially, we could come close to what he could make in football with Grand Prix money and appearance fees and club sponsorship and a shoe contract. Carl (Lewis) has made money in track, Edwin (Moses) has done it, Mary (Decker Slaney) has done it. (Renaldo) Nehemiah did it.

“Of course, he’d have to run under 13 seconds, but he has the potential. I can’t tell you that it will be this weekend, but it might be three months from now.

“A big factor in this is that he could get hurt in the first game in football and be watching games on television with the rest of us.” But there are also setbacks in track, as Woodson discovered Thursday. He qualified easily for the semifinals, finishing second in his heat, but then returned in the afternoon to find that the 10 hurdles in his path were about five too many.

Trying to keep pace with Campbell, which no veteran would have done in a semifinal heat, where the object is to finish in the top four and survive for another day, Woodson clipped the fourth hurdle, was knocked off balance and fell over the fifth.

“I was told to ease off a little bit,” Woodson said later, referring to the strategy DeBus had given him. “But I got into a race with Tonie and started pushing.”

DeBus saw it coming.

“That’s what happens when you try to cram four years of experience into four weeks,” he said. “I would have given anything if I could have jumped out of the stands, pushed the stop-action button and told him what was going to happen.”

One thing that’s not going to happen is a trip to the world championships for Woodson. Arrividerci, Roma .

“I don’t know what the schedule is now,” DeBus said. “We’d hoped to have a paid ticket to Europe by being on the world championship team. Now, we’ll have to go to Plan B.”

Does Plan B have Latrobe as one of its stops?

“I’m not going to make any decisions about track,” Woodson said. “I fell over a hurdle. Bad luck.

“It was just one race. I’ve got some more meets coming up. I’ve just got to run in some smaller meets and get experience. I’d feel the same way if I’d run 13.20 something.”

But since he didn’t, the Steelers no doubt feel better about their chances today of signing Woodson, figuring that his loss is their gain.