Don “Woody” Boyd

By Doug Smith

 Don “Woody” Boyd was the first Aberdeen junior player ever to earn a Sectional ranking in the Northwestern Lawn Tennis Association (now more simply labeled the Northern Section).

 In 1969, his first tour on the Sectional circuit, Don finished the year ranked #6 in the Boys 12-&-under singles division, behind such historic Minnesota notables as Mark Brandenburg, Mike Brennan, and Mark Wheaton and one position ahead of Sioux Falls’ own Ricky Volin.

 If Don needed any affirmation that he belonged in the pantheon of the section’s best 12-year-olds, it came during the first major even of that summer. While playing at the Lafayette Country Club in Wayzata, Minn., Rochester’s vaunted boy wonder, Howard Schoenfeld, embraced Don as his doubles partner.

 Like most boys growing up in Aberdeen at that time, Woody had enjoyed playing other sports.

Once he got bit by the tennis bug, however, he pretty much left the other sports behind.

 Along with the bevy of other Aberdeen athletes in his age range who had likewise turned their sole focus to tennis, that nucleus led Aberdeen’s daunting trifecta of state tennis championships from 1972-1974. Though sidelined by a back injury during his junior season, both before and after that, Woody was an integral part of the title teams. He went undefeated in both singles and doubles. Woody’s tennis career for the Golden Eagles culminated in his senior season of 1974 when he won a pair of state championships, individually with the #2 singles flight title, and partnering together with Bruce Mannes to they claim the #1 doubles flight crown.

 Augustana College’s coach, Ole Odney, subsequently recruited both Boyd and Mannes to play for him. The pair headed off to Sioux Falls to begin their collegiate experience with the Vikings. It didn’t take long for Woody to realize that he honestly wasn’t yet ready to go the college route. He had been strongly affected while attending the funeral of a close relative who was highly decorated for valor during 3 tours in Vietnam but did not survive. After that, Woody had thought seriously about entering military service himself. So it was that in the dead of night, he quietly up and left Augustana, choosing to enlist in the Marines.

 Woody served six years in the Marine Corps—two on active duty and four in the reserves, spending time first at Camp Pendleton and later in Japan and Okinawa. After serving his country, Woody decided that it was finally time for college so he came home to attend Northern State. He polished up his tennis chops as he played for Doc Sorge’s Wolves. Manning the #2 singles and #1 doubles positions, he won the SDIC Championships at both flights. The conference titles earned him a trip to Kansas City, Mo. to compete in the NAIA National Championships.

 At a treasured encounter at The Last Chance in Aberdeen, he met a woman from Eureka named Sandy Wolff. Sandy quickly became the love of his life. They wed in 1981 and relocated to Colorado two years later. It was here where Woody and Sandy raised two children, Jamie and Reno.

 Jamie and her husband, Nathan Warren, have given Woody and Sandy their first grandchildren, Everly and Ryker.

Reno followed his dad into the game of tennis. Reno played #1 singles for his high school tennis team and also spent a term at the prestigious Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. He earned a college degree in journalism at Colorado State. Today, Reno is currently the photographer and videographer for the Colorado Eagles, which is the farm club for the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.

 After 36 years in executive management for Furniture Row, Woody retired from that business. He remains in the Denver area and is now actively back at work, but now as a commercial real estate broker.