Hall of Famer Rod Woodson didn’t go to ASU because of ‘Gandhi’ movie
May 7, 2016, 7:36 PM
If it weren’t for a botched recruiting trip, Arizona State might be able to call one football Hall of Famer an alumnus.
As a high school recruit, eventual 11-time Pro Bowler and defensive back Rod Woodson liked the thought of attending school in Tempe.
But Woodson revealed in an interview with Rich Eisen (starting before the 3-minute mark) just how quickly he dropped the Sun Devils from consideration.
On a recruiting trip with an unnamed Sun Devil host, a young Woodson didn’t take well to watching the lengthy feature film “Gandhi.”
“Arizona State was my last official visit,” Woodson told Eisen. “We had dinner, we were going to go somewhere later that night and then (the host) said, ‘Hey why don’t we go to a movie?’ I said, ‘Oh yeah, sure. Why not?’ He was like, ‘Let’s go see “Gandhi.”‘ I’m from Indiana, I didn’t know who Gandhi is. At that point, I didn’t know ‘Gandhi’ was a three-and-a-half hour movie with an intermission.
“It was probably 11 o’clock by the time we got done,” Woodson added. “After we got out of the movie theater, I told him, ‘Hey, just tell everybody I’m going to Purdue. I’m not coming here.'”
Eisen, in between laughter, then confirmed that Woodson was serious about considering Arizona State in the first place.
“It was a great possibility because I love the place, I love the area, I love the landscape,” Woodson said. “It seemed like a great university. They had a pretty good football team. That movie ‘Gandhi’ just didn’t sit well with me, Rich.”
The Boilermakers apparently did.
