Western New Mexico University Athletics

Jim Wood came with a number of other athletes from Indiana to play for WNMU.

A native of New Castle, Indiana, his high school teams finished first his junior and senior year.

Wood made All-Conference his freshman and sophomore years at WNMU and then was drafted and spent time with the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

He returned to WNMU after his Army hitch and played basketball for two more years before graduating in 1956.

After his first job as a coach at a small school in Penrose, Colorado, Wood returned to his home state where he spent 14 years as a basketball coach. He coached in the Indiana towns of Huron, Heltonville, and Mitchell and now teaches in New Washington, Indiana.