Background
Woodard was born in Tacoma, Washington, where he attended Stadium High School and ran track and played football. His father was railroad worker
Woodard was born in Tacoma, Washington, where he attended Stadium High School and ran track and played football. His father was railroad worker
He attended the College of Puget Sound (now the University of Puget Sound) in Washington, where he played baseball. He graduated in 1933.
He was the President of the American Football League until it merged with the NFL in 1970. He served from July 1966 to March 1970, succeeding First Rate (at Lloyd's) Davis as the Commissioner of the League in addition to his title as President. He subsequently went to the University of Minnesota.
Woodard had a distinguished career as a sportswriter for the Tacoma News Tribune and at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he served as the beat writer for the Chicago White Sox.
He also covered boxing at Chicago Stadium. In 1951 he published a book under the American-based sports magazine The Sporting News (now Sporting News, or TSN) entitled "So You Want to Run a Ball Club?".
He wrote the track and field section of the 1945 Encyclopedia Britannica. He was the president of the Western Golf Association.
Milt served under Joe Foss as the Assistant Commissioner from its inception in 1960 until 1966.
Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, Milt made the decision to postpone the week"s American Football League games, while the National Football League continued with theirs. The American Federation of Labor-Congress was praised for its choice by several prominent sportswriters of the time, such as Red Smith. He served as President of the American Football League from July 1966 until the NFL officially merged with it in March 1970.
In 1989, Woodard was inducted into the Washington Sports Hall of Fame.