FRECKLED AND BROAD-CHESTED, with fading white-blond hair and a robust mustache, "in first-rate health" from years of navigating the austere conditions of the desert Southwest, Dr. Leonard Wood rode in, quite literally, to save the day for Georgia Tech football.
The 33-year-old first lieutenant, newly settled in as a post surgeon at nearby Fort McPherson, arrived on horseback to the Georgia Tech campus in the fall of 1893. He registered as a "sub-apprentice" in a woodworking course -- essentially learning cabinet and furniture making -- so he could qualify as a student.
Any aspirations of becoming a master craftsman, though, were secondary.