Robert Headen


Robert "Bob" Headen is a third generation Washingtonian and former Denver Broncos running back in the American Football League. He retired from the District of Columbia Public School System after 40 years of services as Athletics Director, Dean of Students, teacher and coach in 2004. Coach Headen is considered a pioneer in developing girls' basketball in D.C., as well as the architect of Washington's most dominant program. He took over as Howard D. Woodson High School's girls basketball coach two years after the passage of Title IX—legislation that barred gender discrimination at schools that receive federal funds.
Headen is the winningest Football Coach in the history of D.C. public schools. Eighteen of his former players have been drafted in the National Football League. On June 26, 1996, he was the first African-American and the first Washington D.C. inductee into the National High School Coaches Association.

Personal life

Robert Headen was an only child to Ethel, a housekeeper at a downtown hotel. He grew up near 17th Street and Kalorama Road Northwest in Washington, D.C and began playing sports at several boys clubs throughout the city. He developed his football, basketball and baseball skills on the playground. By his senior year at Cardozo High School, he was a three sport starter. Headen played for coach Sal Hall. Upon graduating, he went on to star in both football and basketball at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was there he earned his B.S. degree in Health and Physical Education. While attending, he was inducted into Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He was also selected All-CIAA Running Back of the Year in 1962. Headen spent the 1963 preseason with the Denver Broncos as a defensive back before returning to Washington.
Coach Headen resides in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Gail. They have four children, three of whom graduated from D.C. public schools, and nine grandchildren.

Coaching career

Cardozo High School

Varsity Football

Headen accepted a teaching assignment at Cardozo in 1964, his alma mater. From the very beginning of his coaching career, he stressed to his players the importance of discipline, dedication, preparation and teamwork as the building blocks of success, both on the athletic field and in life. In 1968, Headen led Cardozo High School to the first of his record eight D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association football championships.
YearChampionRunner-upScore
1968CardozoMcKinley Tech24-19

Howard D. Woodson High School

After three seasons at Cardozo, Headen left coaching for a few months before taking a teaching job at H.D. Woodson in 1972. Over four decades, he served as a teacher, football, girls softball and basketball coach, Dean of Students, and the Athletics Director, at one time or another. Coming on board as an assistant football coach at Woodson under head coach John Thompson, on the second day of practice, Headen arrived to find Thompson had taken another job. Headen became H.D. Woodson's second coach in as many days and stayed from 1972 until his retirement from football in 1999. He remained the girls' basketball coach until his official retirement in 2004. As for football, John Thompson never played a league game before his departure from Woodson, therefore Coach Headen is given the unique distinction of being the first head coach of the H.D. Woodson football team.

Varsity Football

Coach Headen retired in 1999 as H.D. Woodson's head football coach. After winning seven city football championships, Headen's vigorous work along the sideline was a trademark for H.D. Woodson. He guided his teams to an unprecedented eight D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association championships, one with Cardozo and seven with Woodson. Over the years, his career record was 284-89.
YearChampionRunner-upScore
1975H.D. WoodsonDunbar14-0
1981H.D. WoodsonTheodore Roosevelt7-6
1982H.D. WoodsonCoolidge33-0
1985CoolidgeH.D. Woodson35-6
1986CoolidgeH.D. Woodson32-13
1987H.D. WoodsonCoolidge21-6
1993H.D. WoodsonAnacostia14-12
1994H.D. WoodsonAnacostia6-0
1997H.D. WoodsonAnacostia26-22
Students First
One of the first rules Coach Headen taught his assistants was they were not to yell at a player until they knew something about him or her—like whether they had had anything to eat that day or what things were like for them at home. From the start of his career at Woodson, he always wanted to know what was going on with each player.
Homeless Student
Each day after practice, Headen ran a carpool. One of his students was homeless and didn't want his teammates to know. Instead of dropping the player off at the homeless shelter, Coach Headen dropped him off at a fast-food restaurant a couple of blocks away. "Here you go, just in time to go to work," Headen would say. As Headen pulled out of the parking lot, the player would go through the restaurant, out the back door to the shelter.
Raymond "World" Smith
In 1984 Coach Headed discovered a 6-foot-6, 435-pound Woodson student named Raymond "World" Smith. Smith wanted to play football, but there were no uniform pants large enough to fit him. He was the biggest high school player in the world. Coach Headen cut two sets of uniform pants in half and sewed them together. He also noticed Smith ate lunch alone in a corner of the cafeteria. Smith was too quiet and no one was taking the time to get to know him. Headen got two female students go talk to him during lunch, other students began to quickly followed suit. World went on to play football at Grambling State University.
Byron Leftwich
Coach Headen was an advocate ball runner, until he recognized Byron Leftwich's ability to throw the ball. "I watched him practice with the JV one day, and he threw the ball back to a kid 40 yards or so on a frozen rope," Headen said. "That's the day I asked him to play on the varsity." After pleading with Leftwich to play varsity, because Leftwich didn't want to overshadow the more experienced players ahead of him and being content with a receiver position, Leftwich became the most celebrated quarterback in HD Woodson's history. Headen even installed a West Coast offense to take advantage of Leftwich's passing skills. Leftwich went on to play at Marshall University and was drafted in the NFL by Jacksonville Jaguars in 2003.
Retiring From Football
Coach Headen originally announced his retirement from football in December for 1997 after 25 years as head coach at H.D. Woodson. However, because he was also the Athletic Director for the school, he was responsible for finding his own replacement. Since he could not find the "right person" for the job, Headen decided to continue coaching.
A part of Coach Headen's decision to retire was because he was exhausted from being the only coach available to run daily practices. Upon learning of his decision, two former Woodson players joined the Woodson staff as assistant coaches. One, Kevin Robbins, had played from 1989 to 1991 as an offensive lineman for the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Rams in the NFL. Headen didn't officially retire from football until 1999 when he replaced himself with Coach Gregory Fuller who has continued the winning tradition at Woodson with six DCIAA Championships of his own as of 2016.
NFL Draft
Coach Headen is the only coach that has won football championships in both the East and West. At the end of his career, Headen had a total of 18 players drafted into the NFL from Woodson and Cardozo.
AthleteSchoolClassCoachPositionDraftedFree
Agent		Signed By
Tim BaylorCardozo1971Bob HeadenDefensive Back1976Baltimore Colts
Willie GartrellCardozo1971Bob Headen?1976Chicago Bears
Leonard KennedyCardozo?Bob Headen??Baltimore Colts
Gregory BrownH.D. Woodson1976Bob HeadenDefensive End
Tackle		1981Philadelphia Eagles
Dwayne PughH.D. Woodson1981Bob HeadenFullback1986Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Derrell MarshallH.D. Woodson1984Bob HeadenOffensive Tackle1989Buffalo Bills
Kevin RobbinsH.D. Woodson1984Bob HeadenOffensive Lineman1989Los Angeles Rams
Damien RussellH.D. Woodson1987Bob HeadenDefensive Back1992San Francisco 49ers
Orlando BrownH.D. Woodson1988Bob HeadenTackle1993Cleveland Browns
Austin RobbinsH.D. Woodson1990Bob HeadenDefensive Tackle1994Los Angeles Raiders
Jose WhiteH.D. Woodson1990Bob HeadenDefensive Tackle1995Minnesota Vikings
Marcus SpriggsH.D. Woodson1994Bob HeadenDefensive Tackle1999Cleveland Browns
H.D. Woodson1997Bob HeadenDefensive Line2002New York Jets
Byron LeftwichH.D. Woodson1998Bob HeadenQuarterback2003Jacksonville Jaguars
Josh MorganH.D. Woodson2003Greg Fuller
Bob Headen		Receiver
Kick Return		2008San Francisco 49ers
Dominique HarrisH.D. Woodson2005Greg Fuller
Bob Headen		Defensive Back2010Buffalo Bills
H.D. Woodson2006Greg Fuller
Bob Headen		Wide Receiver2011Oakland Raiders
Tavon WilsonH.D. Woodson2007Greg Fuller
Bob Headen		Defensive Back2012New England Patriots
Out of Retirement
Coach Headen always took the position of helping others achieve their goals. Though Woodson alumni didn't agree with his position, Coach Headen belonged to Woodson. Despite what others thought, In 2010, Headen came out of retirement to assist Natalie Randolph, the head football coach of Calvin Coolidge Senior High School in Washington, D.C., who was believed to be the only female varsity football head coach in the nation at that time. Before taking on the job, Randolph was a special-teams MVP for the semipro D.C. Divas and under Coach Headen, had formally coached wide receivers at H.D. Woodson during the 2006-2007 season. Switching roles, head coach Randolph and assistant Coach Headen, within one year, took Coolidge from 4-7, all the way to the championship game on November 24, 2011, Coolidge lost the DCIAA Turkey Bowl to Dunbar High School.
Alumni Loyalty
Numerous alumni NFL players who played under Coach Headen and his predecessor Coach Gregory Fuller have given back to Woodson. Some have paid for championship rings, equipment, etc. Some sent the Headens and the entire girls' basketball team, for national tournaments, airline tickets to express their gratitude for his unwavering dedication and commitment. Former players who lived too far away to see Coach Headen in person, continue to find ways to keep in touch. The Headens even encouraged them to call collect, anytime, but the bills became astronomical.
Orlando Brown
In 1997, the start of the DCIAA season was almost delayed because there was no money in the league's budget for the mandatory reconditioning of helmets and other equipment. Woodson was the only team not affected by the crisis. Former Woodson All-Met and NFL Player Orlando Brown donated enough money to cover the reconditioning. He also purchased championship rings for the Warriors.
Championship Ring Donations
Uniforms
Tavon Wilson
Orlando Brown

Girls' Basketball

Coach Headen ended his career with a record of 637-98, including two city title game championships, 17 district public school championships, 21 East Division titles, and a number one ranking in USA Today. At the time of his retirement, Headen was one of only two district teams to post victories in the girls' city title game, which pitted the DCIAA champion against the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champion during his time. As of today he and his chosen predecessor, Frank Oliver, Jr., are the only coaches in DCPS to have won back to back DCIAA championships against WCAC. Coach Headen was inducted into the first in June 2017.
Woodson's girls' basketball team made their first appearance ranked No. 1 In USA Today's Super 25 on Jan 2, 1986.
Girls' Basketball DCIAA Championships
YearChampion
1978H.D. Woodson
1979H.D. Woodson
1980H.D. Woodson
1983H.D. Woodson
1984H.D. Woodson
1985H.D. Woodson
1986H.D. Woodson
1987H.D. Woodson
1990H.D. Woodson
1991H.D. Woodson
1992H.D. Woodson
1994H.D. Woodson
1996H.D. Woodson
1997H.D. Woodson
1998H.D. Woodson
2002H.D. Woodson
Girls' Basketball City-Title/DCSAA Championships
YearChampionRunner-upScore
1990H.D. WoodsonO'Connell70-53
1992H.D. WoodsonO'Connell46-29
1994O'ConnellH.D. Woodson47-35
1997Elizabeth SetonH.D. Woodson64-51
1998St. John’sH.D. Woodson73-35
1999St. John’sH.D. Woodson54-47
2001Elizabeth SetonH.D. Woodson47-43
2003McNamaraH.D. Woodson91-49

Girls' Softball

Coach Headen's teams won the girls' softball city championships in 1986 and 2002.

Awards and Acknowledgements

Bob Headen Stadium Dedication
H.D. Woodson honored coach Headen by dedicating the school’s new stadium to him. Winning six city titles during his coaching career, he is considered one of the deans of D.C. public school football. Coach Headen is the only living person DCPS has dedicated a building to.
Coach of the Year
Hall of Fame Inductions
Accomplishments
Coaching Appearances