Former Mount Airy and Va. Tech quarterback Todd Greenwood
Greenwood and seven other Surry County legends will step back into that spotlight Saturday at Fisher River Park as they are inducted into the Surry County Sports Hall of Fame.
Greenwood is best known for his contributions to an undefeated 1980 Granite Bears squad and as the first freshman to start at quarterback in an opening game in Virginia Tech’s history.
Nowadays Greenwood can be found working as president of Blue Ridge Enterprises, a contracting and construction company formed by his father, Jack.
Greenwood said the recognition of being remembered as one of Surry County’s all-time athletes is couldn’t have been realized without help from an abundance of people.
“Obviously it’s a great honor that I am just tickled with,” he said. “Partially for me, but also for all the guys that I have played with during my time at Mount Airy. I could reel off all names, but you’ve got those guys that you played with that it’s as much an honor for, because you don’t get anywhere like this without your teammates.”
Greenwood’s name is found throughout the Hokies record book. His 2,669 total yards are 22nd all-time and he can be found as the offensive total yardage and passing leader during his freshman season of 1982.
Greenwood sits 12th all-time among Tech quarterbacks with 2,721 passing yards and 16 touchdowns.
It was during his freshman season that one of his most memorable games took place, a nailbiter of a victory over the Duke Blue Devils at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham.
The Blue Devils were led by quarterback Ben Bennett, who was under the tutelage of offensive coordinator, ‘the ‘ol ball coach himself, Steve Spurrier.
The Hokies went down 21-0 early in the game, but were able to mount a comeback.
Down 21-14 in the final minutes of the game, Greenwood led the Hokies to a memorable win.
“With a minute and a half left in the game we drove the ball about 80-yards, ending up in a 49-yard touchdown pass to go one point behind,” Greenwood said. “Of course back then you didn’t have overtime so it was a choice of going for one and tying or two and the win and I was real tickled we went for two.”
Greenwood connected on a short sprint out pass to give his Hokies a 22-21 victory.
“What an exciting day that was,” Greenwood said. “That is something I can’t describe what a joy that is.”
As a 19-year-old freshman from Mount Airy, Greenwood said it was a little intimidating playing in front of crowds 10 times the size of Wallace Shelton Stadium and professional caliber players, but that he cherishes those memories.
“My very first game was against Richmond in Richmond and I remember our defense, which was very strong, the first play from scrimmage one of our star linebackers broke his leg and at that point I recognized this was for real,” he said with a laugh. “When we did get the ball back, I remember running out there and thinking, ‘I don’t know what my fingers do.’ I just lost it.”
On the third play from scrimmage Greenwood fumbled the snap, picked the ball up and promptly ran 56-yards to set up Virginia Tech’s first score.
“That was an experience I was not prepared for,” he said.
But Greenwood is quick to point out he had loads of help along the way to put him in a position to be successful.
“I want to say that my high school coaches were instrumental,” he said. “I have the highest respect for coach Jerry Hollingsworth. George Snyder was the offensive backs coach and Floyd Jones was the line coach. Coach Snyder would spend time after school every day during the offseason throwing with us. Those type of things are the things you fall back on when you run out on the field and you don’t know how your fingers work. You look back and you have to recall all the times you’ve thrown that pass. Also, I’ve always had a very good family support from my immediate family and all the aunts and uncles and relatives that live around this area.”
Greenwood and his wife of 21 years, Penny, have two children, Caroline, a freshman at Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem and Aaron, a senior civil engineering major at Georgia Tech.
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