James Thomas Woods Jr. (born June 10, 1943) is a retired American professional basketball player.^[1] He played for the Kentucky Colonels during the 1967–68 ABA season after a collegiate career at East Tennessee State University (ETSU).^[1] He also played internationally for a time after his one season in the ABA.^[2]

Woods was a racial integration pioneer in college.^[2] When he enrolled at ETSU as a freshman in 1963–64 to play basketball, he became the first African-American player in school history.^[3] In a segregated southern United States, Woods was harshly booed early in his college career.^[3] His final three seasons from 1964 to 1967, in which he was eligible to play for the varsity team, saw Woods have an ETSU Hall of Fame career.^[4] He was a two-time All-Ohio Valley Conference Team selection and set still-unbroken school records for rebounds in a game (38), career (1,034) and career per-game average (16.2).^[3] By the end of his career, the same fans who had been booing him as a freshman were giving him "loudest and longest" standing ovation on senior night that a local reporter had ever seen.^[3]

After college, Woods played in the American Basketball Association for the Kentucky Colonels for one season.^[1] After a brief stint playing internationally, he retired due to an injury.^[3] Woods then served as a police officer in Louisville, Kentucky for the next 30-plus years.^[3] In 1996, ETSU inducted him into their hall of fame.^[4] On November 3, 2012, in a ceremony prior to the school's 2012–13 season, the men's basketball locker room was named in his honor.^[3]

Source^[1]

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 30 or more rebounds in a game