Elbert L. "Ickey" Woods (born February 28, 1966) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL) from 1988 through 1991. He played college football for the UNLV Rebels. He is best remembered for his "Ickey Shuffle" end zone dance, performed each time he scored a touchdown. After a rookie season in which he set numerous rookie franchise records, a series of injuries shortened his NFL career and he retired after four years.
Early life
Elbert Woods was given the nickname "Ickey" based on his little brother's pronunciation of his given first name, which sounded like "E-E." He attended Edison High School in Fresno, California, where he played sports. He received one college football scholarship, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where he was a four-year letterwinner for the UNLV Rebels. As a freshman in 1984, the Rebels, led by future NFL star quarterback Randall Cunningham, went 11-2 and won the California Bowl 30-13 against the Toledo Rockets, a game in which Woods rushed nine times for 53 yards and one touchdown.[1]
In his senior year of 1987, he broke out and led the nation in rushing with 1,658 yards, with 6.4 yards per attempt. That total remains the second-most in UNLV history, and he still holds the school record in single-game rushing attempts with 37 in two different games. In one of those games, he ran for a personal-best 265 yards against the University of the Pacific. He rushed for more than 100 yards in nine games, and more than 200 yards three times, in 1987, and was named first-team All Big West.[2] He was inducted into the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998.[3]
The Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL) in the second round, drafted Woods with the 31st overall selection, of the 1988 NFL draft.[5][6] He was a breakout star as a rookie, setting franchise rookie records for rushing with 1,066 yards (since broken by Corey Dillon), 15 touchdowns, and an NFL-leading 5.3 yards per carry,[7] along with 228 yards and three touchdowns in the playoffs as the Bengals advanced to Super Bowl XXIII. His team lost the game 20-16 to the San Francisco 49ers, but he finished as the game's leading rusher with 79 yards.
1989
In 1989, Woods tore his left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the second game of the season, a 41-10 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He missed 13 months. By the time he returned, his starting role was filled by Harold Green.
1990
In 1990, Woods would have 6 rushing touchdowns in the regular season.
1991
In 1991, Woods injured his right knee in the preseason. He returned at midseason but he ran for just 97 yards on 36 carries. He was out of football by age 26. His career statistics include 332 carries for 1,525 yards and 27 touchdowns, along with 47 receptions for 397 yards. Woods was later named #7 on NFL Top 10's Top Ten One-Shot Wonders.[8]
Woods is the longtime owner/coach of the Cincinnati Sizzle[9] of the full-contact Women's Football Alliance; one of the players was his ex-wife, Chandra Baldwin-Woods.[10][11] He runs the Ickey Woods Youth Foundation as well as the Jovante Woods Foundation,[11] named for their son who died at age 16. Jovante was an honor student and a member of the Princeton High School football team who suffered a fatal asthma attack at home.[12] The foundation provides funding and education for asthma research and organ donor education.[13]
Woods has six children. Since retiring from the NFL, he has been a sales representative for a meat company, sold security systems, and has owned a flooring store in Cincinnati.[14] In 2006, he was an assistant coach for the Cincinnati Marshals of the National Indoor Football League.
Ickey Woods appeared in Bootsy Collins' video "Who-Dey Invasion."[15] He appeared in a Cincinnati Bell commercial, doing the "Ickey Shuffle" with the company's president[14] and was in a national Oldsmobile commercial doing the "Ickey Shuffle" with his mother.[16] In 2014, he was featured in a national GEICO Insurance commercial in which he reprised his "Ickey Shuffle" while gleefully buying cold cuts at a deli counter.[17] On May 1, 2015, Woods announced at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Illinois that the Cincinnati Bengals had selected offensive tackleJake Fisher of the University of Oregon as the 21st pick in the second round (53rd overall) of the 2015 NFL draft. After replicating his signature move, the "Ickey Shuffle" and making the pick announcement, Woods said, "gonna get me some cold cuts," a line from the aforementioned GEICO television commercial.[18] He also appeared in a couple of commercials before Super Bowl XLIX. The dance move is occasionally duplicated by other NFL players.[19]
