When Matt Woods graduated from Dade County High School in 2005, the thought of one day heading off to medical school at Johns Hopkins was probably the last thing on his mind.
Having been a solid point guard for the Wolverines, college basketball intrigued him, especially if the lifelong North Carolina Tar Heels fan could parlay an athletic scholarship into a coaching gig. There was also marine biology to consider, given his childhood fascination with the sea.
And the military was always there to fall back on for someone whose father, Bob, had risen to the rank of Brigadier General in the Army before retiring to run the General Woods Inn in Rising Fawn, Ga., with Matt's mom, Nadine, who was once an Army captain.
"I really didn't know what I wanted to do," admitted Matt, who joined the National Guard while attending Kennesaw State without a basketball offer that first autumn out of high school. "College was just what you did. It was the next step."
But when he came home in December 2009 after a tour of duty in Iraq as a military policeman, he also hoped walking on to join the basketball team at Georgia Northwestern Technical College the following fall might help him take the next step toward finding his future.
"Though I hadn't played with him, another former Dade County player, Jesse Moore, talked me into walking on for the fall of 2010," Woods recalled. "There were no guarantees. I still had to make the team. But I was going to have a chance to play."
Had the story ended there - military veteran makes junior college basketball roster - it would have been a sweet enough hoops dream come true.
Yet before Woods could buy his first textbook or run his first wind sprint, his older brother Bobby, who was stationed in Afghanistan, was shot in the head while on patrol in August 2010.
"I was on a training exercise (with the National Guard) in South Georgia when I got the news," Woods recalled. "It's a call I never want to get again. My mom said Bobby had been shot in the head, but that he was alive."
When Bobby returned stateside, he was sent to Bethesda (Md.) Naval Hospital for rehab.
"I stayed with him almost two months," Matt said. "Almost from the minute I got there, when I saw all they were doing to make these veterans better, I knew I wanted to become a surgeon one day. I wanted to help be a part of making people like my brother better."
In something of a major miracle, Bobby recovered so completely he recently earned an MBA from the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business.
But anyone who has ever known a medical student knows it's far more complicated than just wanting to sew someone up in an operating room. Especially for someone such as Woods, whose GPA during his semesters in and out of Kennesaw State was a pedestrian 3.2.
"Matt wasn't anything close to an average student here, though," noted GNTC basketball coach David Stephenson. "He had a 3.92 GPA. He became our first Academic All-American. Then he had a 3.9 at (the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)."
Added Matt in a GNTC press release, "Georgia Northwestern was the first time I really tried hard and did well in school, and I was able to get my grades high enough to get into medical school."
For those old enough to remember the 1980s movies "Bad Medicine" and "Gross Anatomy," not all medical schools are created equal. In a perfect world, Woods saw himself getting into Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, which has been ranked the No. 1 medical school in the country for 21 of the past 24 years by U.S. News and World Report and currently stands No. 3.
In the real world, however, he was ecstatic the day he received word he'd been accepted to Southern medical giant the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which was also right about the same time he was named to GNTC's athletic hall of fame in early May.
"I was thrilled with UAB," he said. "Great school, near my family. I was more than happy to go to UAB."
But then the Mayo Medical School, which is part of the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., called with a $200,000 scholarship. Goodbye, UAB. Hello, Mayo.
Or was it? Because before Woods and his fiancée, Allison Haswell, could load up on antifreeze, electric blankets and hooded fleece onesies for the baby they're expecting on Dec. 16, Johns Hopkins called.
"Honestly, it was more than a dream, because I never thought it could happen," said the 28-year-old Woods, who'll head to Baltimore near the end of this month in hopes of becoming either a pediatric surgeon or trauma surgeon by the time he's 37. "I almost didn't even apply to Johns Hopkins."
Said Stephenson, who promised Woods he'd save him a spot on the team after his brother was shot, though he'd never played a game for the Bobcats at that time, "It's all such a great thing for our program. We're a two-year school, and other programs are always telling kids we recruit that you can't get the academics at a school like us if you want to go to medical school or law school or something.
"Well, Matt's going to Johns Hopkins medical school. You can go anywhere you want from Georgia Northwestern if you apply yourself."
To be fair, it wasn't just that Woods played college hoops for two years or served in the military or began making excellent grades. It was all that and more. As stated in Johns Hopkins' form letters to medical school applicants, evidence of leadership and extracurricular activities performed at a high level are strongly considered. So is recognition for those interests.
So it certainly didn't hurt Woods that he was the Bobcats' captain during his sophomore year at GNTC. Or that during his years as a UTC student and this past basketball season he served as an assistant coach to Stephenson. Or that he won a Combat Action Badge for heroism during his time in Iraq. Or that he served a total of six years in the National Guard, rising to the rank of sergeant. Or that he'd achieved all of this after living in 15 different communities - everywhere from Hawaii to Kentucky to Alabama to North Carolina - during the first 22 years of his life.
If that doesn't exhibit leadership and adaptability, nothing will, though Stephenson has lightheartedly questioned his former star point guard's priorities.
Deadpanned the ninth-year GNTC coach and athletic director: "I still can't figure out why Matt's doing this. Who in the world would rather be a millionaire doctor than a junior college assistant basketball coach?"
Added Woods with a gentle laugh: "It was a tough, tough choice. It ultimately came down to what was best for my family."
This is a weekend we often reflect on what is best about America. We light up the sky with fireworks, sing patriotic tunes, gather with family and friends to eat and drink and remind ourselves how lucky we are to live in a land that produces such fine young citizens as Woods.
Said Stephenson, "I don't know what I'm going to do without him. I just hope my daughters are fortunate enough to marry a guy like him one day."
Added Woods, returning the compliment, "Without Coach Stephenson, none of this would have happened. He's done so much to help me and my family. If he hadn't given me a chance to play college basketball, I don't know that I would have accomplished any of this."
But it did happen - and on the eve of the Fourth of July, with so much having gone so right in his life, Woods also discussed what this holiday means to our nation's military veterans.
"On the Fourth of July," he said, "you always feel like your country is thinking of you and is proud of you."
At least we should be.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com