How the Wood Gym in Knoxville helped build Vikings safety Harrison Smith

When the Vikings hosted the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday Night Football a few weeks ago, veteran safety Harrison Smith used it as an opportunity to challenge former coach Charlie Petrone in front of a national audience.

“I’ve been there long enough,” Smith said. “I think most people know I went to Notre Dame.”

So instead of stating his first name, last name and alma, the usual script during the on-screen player introductions that have become synonymous with Sunday Night Football in recent decades, Smith decided to do it differently.

“Hitman,” Smith said, looking into the camera. “Petrone’s Wood Gym.”

It was a fleeting moment that was completely missed by anyone who wasn’t paying attention. That was kind of the point.

“That was for him,” Smith said, laughing. “For no one else.”

Nearly 1,000 miles away, in Smith’s hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, Petrone couldn’t believe his ears. He remembered the first exchange last summer. At the time, he wrote it off as nothing more than small talk.

“He said, ‘Dude, if I get the chance, I’ll do it,’” Petrone said. “I thought, ‘You’re not actually going to do it.’ ”

The fact that he made good on his promise sheds some light on the brotherly bond that Smith and Petrone have developed over the past two decades. They started training together long before Smith was drafted by the Vikings in 2012 and long before he established himself as one of the top players the franchise has ever seen.

While reflecting on his journey this week during an interview with the Pioneer Press, Smith credited Petrone with the longevity that brought him to the brink of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He learned training tools at the Wood Gym as a teenager, which allowed him to continue playing at a high level as a 35-year-old.

The simplicity of Petrone’s Wood Gym is the secret sauce.

The current facility is a 9 meter wide and 50 meter long wooden structure that prides itself on its minimalism. Located off the beaten path on the edge of Knoxville, it makes most of its sales through word of mouth. There is no air conditioning in summer and no heating in winter.

“It’s hot as (expletive) or cold as (expletive) depending on the time of year,” Smith said. “That’s another charming aspect of it.”

There are dozens of jerseys hanging along the walls of the Wood Gym.

Some of the notable clients Petrone has trained alongside Smith include former NFL offensive lineman Bruce Wilkerson, former NFL quarterback Chad Pennington and former MLB first baseman Todd Helton, among a long list of others.

“It’s not a program where everyone does the same thing,” Petrone said. “I design a program specifically for each athlete.”

The first meeting between Smith and Petrone can be traced back to former Vikings offensive lineman Tim Irwin. Talk about a small world. In the early 2000s, Irwin was coaching high school football in Knoxville, and he recommended Smith and a few other players to coach at Petrone.

The group of teenagers showed up at the Wood Gym with ulterior motives.

“He had a slushie machine at the time,” Smith said. “It was the Sprite Remix flavor, and we tried to drink as many slushies there as we could.”

The motivation changed as Smith slowly emerged as a rising star at Knoxville Catholic High School. He realized he had a chance to play in college and maybe even at the highest level if he kept working at it.

“Honestly, I trained almost every day from then on,” Smith said. “I was there as much as he let me in there.”

There is one specific workout from his time at Knoxville Catholic that still sticks with Smith. He was running 300-meter shuttles in the Wood Gym and someone jumped in to race him while he was finishing up.

“I got gassed and it was fresh,” Smith said. “He was in front of me at the last corner and we were actually running along the end of it. His legs gave out on the last 25 meters and he collapsed. I walked to the finish.”

As soon as Smith was done, he grabbed his keys, got into his car and started the drive home.

“I threw up on my windshield and had to stop,” Smith said. “You remember things like that.”

A gravitational pull brought Smith back to the Wood Gym. It’s an indescribable feeling shared by everyone who walks through the door. Even after going to Notre Dame, he would return every chance he got.

That helps explain why Smith chose to live in Petrone’s guest house prior to the 2012 NFL Scouting Combine. He cut off contact with family and friends so he could focus on the task at hand. It was literally like a boxer isolating himself in preparation for a title fight.

“That was something I’ll never forget,” Smith said. “I just go to work every day and pretend I’m not in my hometown.”

The decision shocked some people because of how highly rated Smith was coming out of Notre Dame. They expected him to go somewhere to train where there were more bells and whistles. He’s just not put together that way.

“He said, ‘Why would I go somewhere else if I know this works?’ Petron said. “He never got caught up in thinking he had to do something different to get better.”

That mentality has followed Smith throughout his career with the Vikings. He knows his body better than most athletes. As a result, he never strayed from the Wood Gym.

“It’s a pure place that’s not focused on glitz and glamour,” said former officer John McGeehan. “That matches who Harrison is as a person and as a player.”

There have been minor changes to the Wood Gym over the years. For example, it used to use metal boxes for plyometrics, forcing everyone to be confined. Or else.

“You didn’t want to miss it or it would be a serious problem,” Smith said. “We always say that we like to attach consequences to this.”

These days, Smith and Petrone have more of a back-and-forth as they come up with a game plan.

“There have been times when he would call me and say, ‘I don’t feel like it today. I will be there tomorrow,” Petrone said. ‘Is it because he’s lazy? Absolutely not. He’s just so in tune with his body and his mind. He knows exactly what he needs.”

It might not even be a workout.

“There’s a piece to it that’s almost like therapy,” Smith said. ‘Sometimes I sit for hours talking and venting about life. Not just me. That’s how it is for everyone there.”

That’s something former Vikings safety Andrew Sendejo recently experienced for the first time. As close as Sendejo got to Smith during their time together, he never got the chance to train with him at the Wood Gym until he booked a flight to Knoxville last summer.

“We all sat down and we were shooting for an hour before we even did anything,” Sendejo said. “It’s so clear that they have a very close relationship. They almost have their own language there. It was cool to see them create a workout in about 10 minutes and then go through it.”

The biggest reason Smith keeps coming back to this point is because it feels like home. He has spent so many hours in the Wood Gym in his life that it has become something he can count on no matter the circumstances.

“There’s a grittiness to it,” Smith said. “When I train alone, I like to go back to where it all started.”

He recently returned to the Wood Gym while the Vikings were on a bye week. While he could have easily asked Petrone to take some time to train with him personally, Smith showed up and worked with everyone else.

“We get a lot of high school students there,” Smith said. “I think when they see a guy come back and do the same workouts as them, it’s meaningful to them. I also want to look good when I’m training for them. I don’t want to let them down.”

There is no retirement in Petrone’s future, with the 56-year-old joking that he will die at the Wood Gym. A hearty laugh faded into introspection as Petrone reminisced about the past two decades of working with Smith.

“I love talking about him,” Petrone said. “I’m getting chills now because I know I’ll never have someone like him again.”

Luckily for Petrone, Smith isn’t going anywhere.

Whenever he hangs up the cleats for good, Hitman keeps coming back to Petrone’s Wood Gym.

“Mainly for coffee,” Smith said. “Maybe I’ll do some abs.”

Originally published: November 15, 2024 at 3:21 PM CST