The Woodson family put six cities in a box.

The Sacramento, Calif., natives were looking for a new start and were willing to move across the country to find what they were seeking. In the hat were cities that held meaning to the Woodson family, and others to which they had no connection. Some were cities they’d visited for a few days, others had a relative living nearby, and one was the home of the New York Mets spring training facility.

Takoma, Wash.

Flagstaff, Ariz.

Austin, Texas

St. Petersburg, Fla.

Dayton, Ohio

Norfolk, Va.

The last city of the list held greater meaning to Ed Woodson, whose sister, Dr. Althea Woodson-Robinson, was a graduate of Hampton University, a historically black university in nearby Hampton Roads.

Ed Woodson and his wife, Coretta, stuck their hands in the box and locked eyes with their future, and that of their two sons, Chazz and Bryce. On that day in 1985, the Woodson family planted their flag in Norfolk.

It took almost eight months for the Woodsons to make it to the Virginia city on the Atlantic Coast.

“It was an odyssey getting there,” Ed Woodson joked.

Ed Woodson, a former lacrosse player at Middlebury, found lacrosse at Norfolk Academy and eventually served as a teacher and coach at the school. He got both of his boys involved in the lacrosse team when they were in elementary school, and it sparked a passion almost immediately.

Chazz Woodson starred at Norfolk Academy before his illustrious careers at Brown and in Major League Lacrosse. His roots came from the Hampton Roads community near Norfolk, and he never forgot the lessons he learned in his hometown.

Woodson moved to Miami a week after graduating college and built a career in coaching at Ransom Everglades School and in the club ranks. He never forgot his time at Hampton Roads. He wasn’t entertaining coaching at the college level, but that changed in 2015.

He watched as Hampton University, the school that played a role in his journey to Norfolk, transformed its club team into a Division I program. Over the past five years, Woodson has given back to a program close to his heart.

But this summer, after trying on multiple occasions, Woodson was granted the chance to lead the Hampton University men’s lacrosse team. The significance of the moment was not lost on the former professional lacrosse player who was in no rush to leave the confines of Miami.

“If it’s not for Hampton University, perhaps we never would have moved to Norfolk. If it’s not for lacrosse, maybe I’m not ever at Norfolk Academy,” Woodson said. “To have lacrosse bring me back to that area and Hampton bring me back is pretty special. The challenge is more important than staying [in Miami].”

The challenge is arguably the most unique in all of Division I men’s lacrosse. The Hampton men’s lacrosse program has been active for five seasons but with little success on the field. The program is the only one in Division I from a historically black college or university — and it was launched with the hope that it could one day rival the influence of Morgan State’s “Ten Bears” in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Pirates have already welcomed and said goodbye to Lloyd Carter and Rashad Devoe as head coaches in its short history. Woodson, who applied for the position before Devoe earned the job in 2019, is ready to bring stability back to the program, and he has the backing of plenty in the lacrosse community.

“I can’t tell you how good a fit that is right now,” said Dr. Miles Harrison, a member of the Ten Bears. “It’s the right person at the right time.”

“It’s a win for college lacrosse,” said Virginia head coach and friend Lars Tiffany. “We all want Chazz Woodson to be successful. We all want Hampton University to be successful. In Chazz, I really feel in my heart, they’ve got the best coach for the job. It would be amazing to have an institution that’s predominantly African American play at a high level and do it the right way.”

As a US Lacrosse board member and one of the founders of the Sankofa Clinic Series, Woodson has plenty of experience giving back to the black lacrosse community. This summer, he is taking on a bigger purpose.

Woodson said he wasn’t looking for a college coaching job unless it came at an HBCU. Now, he’s heading back home to fulfill his lifelong goal of raising the profile of Hampton University, and black lacrosse.

The fateful drawing out of a box set the course of Woodson’s life, which is now coming full circle.

Chazz Woodson spent most of his life at Norfolk Academy, the place where his father taught and coached lacrosse alongside the legendary Tom Duquette. He started playing lacrosse in fourth grade, and it didn’t take long for his skills to catch up to his stellar athleticism. He lived in a predominantly black community in Hampton Roads, where most of his neighbors had no knowledge of lacrosse. He looked up to the football and lacrosse players that starred for Norfolk Academy.

By eighth grade, Woodson was ready to play for the high school program. All the while, Woodson found a passion for helping out those in the community.

“If you had 45 minutes to kill and it’s a really hot day, you could just tell Chazz, ‘Can you take these knucklehead kids and keep them happy for 45 minutes?’” Duquette said. “He would say, ‘No problem, Coach.’ I don’t know how he did it. It was magic.”

Woodson’s energy and swiftly improving lacrosse game brought with it attention as one of the region’s brightest stars. As much as he was focused on lacrosse, he enjoyed the community service projects he was allowed to complete at Norfolk Academy. Every Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. during middle school and into high school, he’d leave campus on a bus and head to the city of Norfolk to help. Woodson was assigned to a local all-male elementary school classroom. For three years, he’d assist the teacher and help mentor young children.

Woodson didn’t know it then, but he was building the foundation for the rest of his life. By the time he graduated from high school (he spent his senior year at Blue Ridge in Charlottesville), Woodson had a good idea of where he was headed.

“I knew I wanted to go into education,” he said.

At Brown, Woodson continued to learn more about teaching, specifically in low-income areas. He spent a semester teaching in New York City, furthering his passion and providing children with a positive role model.

In 2005, after an All-Ivy League career concluded at Brown, where he scored 71 goals in 54 games, Woodson headed straight for Miami to start his career in lacrosse and education. While playing in Major League Lacrosse, he got a crash course in coaching middle and high school athletics and leading young men and women at Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Creek, Fla.

Woodson taught in the elementary school and coached basketball, football and cross country before landing in the lacrosse program. By 2007, he was the varsity coach at Ransom Everglades. He was one of MLL’s brightest stars, winning the skills competition and wowing fans with his leaping goals, but he took the most pride in his other career.

“Coaching was more fun to me,” Woodson said. “I loved helping guys develop and watching them grow and mature. That piece of it has gotten bigger and bigger. It’s about relationships, regardless of the level of the sport.”

Woodson found two passions during his time at Norfolk Academy: lacrosse and education. He excelled at both in Florida during his 20s.

Now, at 37, he’s taking his calling to another level.

“With Chazz taking those kids for 45 minutes, in many ways, he’s a pied piper,” Duquette said. “He was in many ways with them, and he could be the same in this new and larger arena.”

The months of May and June were exhausting for Woodson. He sorted through intense feelings of pain, anger and sadness. He watched the news coverage about the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd and felt exhausted.

Woodson, who has been outspoken about race within the sport of lacrosse, issued posts on social media on the subject. He attended a Miami rally arranged by a student. He made his voice heard, but he needed to protect his own sanity.

“I’ve been asked a bunch of times, ‘What can we do? How can we help?’” he said. “I don’t have all the answers, and I know that. There’s not one answer or five answers or 10 answers, because there’s a lot of problems. It requires the efforts of a whole lot of people. We all have a responsibility to help change the systemic problems in our country.”

Soon, Woodson’s mind shifted to his hometown and the men in the Hampton University lacrosse program. The team had just lost its second coach in as many years and was processing the events unfolding in America without a leader at the helm.

Hampton had always been in Woodson’s heart, but this summer more than ever. Since 2011, when Carter established the Hampton club team, Woodson has kept tabs on the progress of the Pirates.

He pondered making the move back home to assist Carter and the program, but the timing wasn't quite right. He remained in touch with Carter and offered support as much he could. When Carter left the university, Woodson applied and had an interview with the administration.

While he watched Hampton from afar, Woodson was busy with the Sankofa Lacrosse Alliance, a program he founded that works to foster the growth of the sport in underprivileged communities. Through Sankofa clinics, Woodson and US Lacrosse have introduced lacrosse to more than 5,000 children. The partnership paved the way for Woodson to become a member of the US Lacrosse Board of Directors.

“It’s been interesting for me, personally, because I’ve been involved in the game for so long,” Woodson said. “I wasn’t always familiar with the inner workings of US Lacrosse. It’s been cool to be behind-the-scenes and give input on the growth of the sport.”

Devoe was offered the position last year, but Woodson wasn’t done giving back to Hampton. In January, he arranged a scrimmage with Hampton, bringing together some of his closest friends in the game to form a team to face off with the Pirates.

“He knew how important it was for Hampton to get better even if he wasn’t coaching,” Duquette said.

When Devoe left for Amherst, Woodson wasn’t immediately interested in applying again. He was content with his life in Florida, but something kept pulling him back toward Hampton. He had always been intrigued by coaching at an HBCU. The conversation on racial injustice in America may have been the tip of the iceberg for Woodson to apply once again.

“Everyone needs something consistent,” he said. “To not have consistency from a coaching standpoint is big and troubling. Witnessing those types of things, if you’re 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, trying to process them and trying to do everything you’re told to do as a student and athlete, you have to have some guidance. You have to find someone to help you process these things, and someone to help you have a voice. Some of these guys have a lot more to say than they even realize.”

With the support of Duquette, Tiffany and plenty of others in the college lacrosse community, the Hampton Roads native gave it another shot. This time, Hampton hired the man who seemed destined for the job.

“I started thinking about the guys that are up there at Hampton that had a coach leave,” Woodson said. “This is going to be their third coach in two years. I just figured, ‘Why not me?’”

Hampton University is one of 107 historically black colleges and universities in the U.S., but it is the only one to host a Division I men’s lacrosse program. The significance of the Pirates, which made the jump to varsity in 2016, is not lost in a predominantly white sport.

Much like Morgan State’s team decades ago, the hope for Hampton is that it can attract some of the best black lacrosse players in the country. With a star like Woodson at the helm, many have been talking about the potential for this program in the coming years. Hampton athletic director Eugene Marshall Jr. mentioned Woodson’s  “impeccable background in lacrosse” as factoring into his excitement for this program.

There’s hope at Hampton.

“What Morgan State achieved in the 1970s and what Hampton hoped to achieve when they started the program, they have a real chance of achieving it with someone like Chazz at the helm,” Duquette said. “Maybe two or three years from now, a Myles Jones or a Kyle Harrison ... will consider Hampton as opposed to going to Duke [or Hopkins].”

Some of the world’s best players teaming up at Hampton? It has happened in other sports, namely basketball, with top recruit Makur Maker choosing Howard over Division I bluebloods.

Although the lacrosse world would welcome that change, it has Woodson’s colleagues a little worried.

“Now, I don’t want to lose to Hampton,” Tiffany joked. “I don’t want him to grow too much and he’s beating UVA, but it would be amazing to have an institution that’s predominantly African American play at a high level and do it the right way.”

Hampton spent its few seasons of existence battling against Division II and Division III competition before adding more Division I opponents the past two years. The Pirates were 0-6 this season before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Woodson knows that it will take time to build Hampton into a formidable team, but he said he’s willing to take the time to see his vision through.

In the meantime, Woodson hopes his Pirates can help lift the spirits of fans around the country. What they do on the field is only one part of the process. Hampton hopes to continue to change the sport for good.

“Given everything that’s going on, Hampton University lacrosse can be a bright spot,” Woodson said. “It can be something for a whole community to rally around. It’s not just about this moment, but what can this program be in the grand scheme of everything that’s going on? How can we be something that’s a beacon of light for young players and fans across the nation?’”