Jason Wooley, you could carry the football. In fact, no one has
ever done it better in the history of WPI football. When it comes
to rushing and scoring records, you hold them all. With your
outstanding individual achievements and the tremendous success
enjoyed by the WPI football team in the early 1990s, it was an easy
decision to elect you to the WPI Athletic Hall of Fame in your
first year of eligibility.
Here's why: In your four years on campus (including the 1990 to
1993 football seasons), the WPI football teams accumulated 29 wins
with just nine losses and one tie. They played in the only two
postseason tournaments in the school's history. In your junior and
senior years, WPI won the Freedom Football Conference title
outright.
You made your personal mark on the rushing records with most
career yards (3,766), most yards in one season (1,283 in 1990),
most yards in one game (311 vs. MIT on Nov. 10, 1990), career
carries (754), and most carries in one game (45 in the MIT game).
You hold scoring records for most career points (338), most points
in one season (166 in 1990), and most points scored in one game (26
in the 1990 game against MIT).
You began accumulating honors from Day One. In your freshman
year, when your team finished 8-0-1, you named ECAC Division III
Rookie of the Year, First Team All-New England and WPI Freshman
Athlete of the Year, and won WPI's Pritchard Award as the top back
in the Homecoming game. The next year, when the team finished 7-3,
you repeated as First Team All-New England, won the prestigious
Gold Helmet Sportswriters Player of the Year Award for all small
colleges in New England, and recaptured the Pritchard Award.
In your junior year, when the team finished 9-2 overall and 5-0
in the Freedom Football Conference, you were named a preseason
All-American, Second Team All-FFC and Second Team All-New England;
you even made the cover of the ECAC Football Guide. In your final
season you again received the Pritchard Award and were named the
All-Freedom Football Conference Second Team. Once again, the team
finished 5-0 in the FFC.
Coach Jack Siedlecki understood the secret of your success.
"Jason had great feet," he said of his 5'8'', 175-pound back. "He
would make other players miss because of his tremendous ability to
change direction. He was like no one I had ever seen."
You also found time to compete on the baseball and track teams.
Off the field, your involvement with extracurricular activities was
recognized early with Skull's Outstanding Freshman Award and you
ultimately served as rush chair of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and
as Interfraternity Council vice-president. You received your degree
in management engineering and are currently the new product
introduction engineer for Teradyne Inc. in Boston.
Jason Wooley, for your unparalleled record-setting achievements
in football, it is with great pleasure that we welcome you into the
WPI Athletic Hall of Fame.
