There was a time when Jordan Wood didn't envision himself playing basketball.
"I played soccer for the longest time and didn't want anything to do with basketball," Wood said. "Then things changed for me when I entered fifth grade. My friends' dad played basketball for St. Mary's. I was hanging with his son, and he took me to the courts. I fell in love with it and haven't looked back ever since."
Then, once he started hooping, the Howard University junior men's basketball finance major surely never imagined in a million years that he'd run a marathon.
Yes, that type of marathon. The 26.2-mile one.
"(Howard head coach Kenneth Blakeney) challenged me to run a marathon, and I laughed," Wood said. "I am a basketball player and can't run a marathon. Coach is always putting me in positions where I am uncomfortable and forced to grow. There are not a lot of people who would do that. He's firm in his belief in taking the hard route. He believed in me and knew I would come out with a better mindset with a better opportunity for success."
That was Wood crossing the finish line of the Abebe Bikila Day of Peace marathon in September of last year and celebrating Howard's first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular season title since 1987 last week.
Wood and the Bison are excited to begin the MEAC Tournament with a giant bullseye on its back as the No. 1 seed. Howard starts its championship chase against South Carolina State on Wednesday in the quarterfinals at the spacious Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. The game begins at 6 p.m.
Wood has had a blast this season. The recipe for Howard's season success has been simple.
"We have a group of 15 guys, and we are tight," Wood said. "We work hard for each other and have each other back. I've been on many teams, but this one has been special. Our coach emphasizes being connected on the court and being one unit. It has translated off the court. Every day after practice, we'll talk in the locker room. Usually, somebody is also always in the cafeteria at all times of the day aside from practices, and we'll shoot a group text, and the next thing you know, we pull up."
Wood's game has been a beautiful ballet of motion and movement this season for the Bison. He darts in the lane, loses his defender, and then pops out beyond the 3-point line to sink another basket. The native of San Antonio averages 9.2 points per game.
Wood is one of six Howard players averaging at least nine points per game. Wood leads Howard with 61 3-pointers. He has scored in double figures 12 times this season and has made at least one 3-pointer in 12 straight contests.
"It's a great feeling," Wood said on being a member of the Bison. "You don't have to focus on your output as much, and you can focus on little things, playing defense and being a good teammate. On our team, anybody can go off any night and produce at a high rate. It's a fun style to play and we have a good balance."
Meanwhile, running a marathon is fearsome and fascinating. The individual event requires dedication, discipline, resilience, and bravery, especially when training in Texas weather that's hotter than the inside of an EZ-Bake oven. A marathon is one of the toughest challenges a human can endure. The hallmarks of a marathon are twitching muscles, excruciating pain, and a shared struggle.
"I was running 30 to 40 miles a week from mid-April until September," Wood said. "I had many hot days running and waking up at 5 a.m. to beat the sun. It was a long summer, and I didn't do a lot of basketball prep because I was focused on the marathon."
While training for and competing in a marathon will be forever memorable for Wood, his most meaningful experience was helping to pack pregnancy kits at a maternal health clinic in January. Howard's players decided to focus on the maternal mental health after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade last year. This controversial decision is expected to leave millions of black and brown women without access to abortion care.
In many states, black and Hispanic women receive abortions at higher rates than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which collects data from state health agencies.
"It was a special and an indescribable feeling to help others," Wood said. "It made me feel good, especially what we did as a team. Doing a community service project with your brothers outside your comfort zone was special. We cleared out the storage room, cleaned and organized it. We got it all done. They were so grateful, and to me, that's the ultimate reward."
A San Antonio Spurs fan, Wood, who enjoys watching Ozark, Breaking Bad, and Snowfall, loves to cook. His go-to meal is chicken and rice or salmon and rice. Once his playing days are finished, Wood would love to stay around the sport as a financial advisor or an agent.
Wood is appreciative of his time at Howard. It was the only school he visited during the recruiting process.
"I liked how they believed in me and the confidence they showed in me," Wood said. "That extended to the marathon. I forgot I ran it because it still feels surreal that I completed it. I know when I look back on everything and if I am struggling with something, I tell myself that I did something way harder than what I am going through so I know I can do it. Running a marathon gave me confidence and made me believe in myself to do whatever awaits me."
Rob Knox is an award-winning professional. A member of the Lincoln (Pa.) Hall of Fame, Knox currently serves as the Senior Director of Strategic Communications for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Knox enjoyed a distinguished career as an athletics communicator for Lincoln, Kutztown, Coppin State, Towson, and UNC Greensboro. He also worked at ESPN and for the Delaware County Daily Times. Recently, Knox was honored by CSC with the Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer Award and the NCAA with its Champion of Diversity award. Knox is a graduate of Lincoln University and a past president of the College Sports Information Directors Association of America (CoSIDA).
