Wayne Woodrow "Woody" Hayes (official thread)

[cincibuck]

I see Mr. Peabody has fired up the "Way Back Machine."

1. One day in class someone mentioned Sports Illustrated and Woody went off... he wasn't the kind of teacher you could get off topic, he had an agenda for each class and he was determined to meet that agenda... his neck got red and his voice crept up in pitch and volume and by the end he was pounding on the podium. "...they fly into town, watch a Friday practice, catch the game and fly out and then they know so much they tell you all the mistakes you made, or how hard you are on your players. They never see you checking up on kids making sure they go to classes or get that degree, or going to the hospital, or helping someone out who's down on their luck... and those damn camera men...one day they're going to put a camera inside the coffin just to see what that's like..."

2. I used to be a sideline photographer. We had free range before the game as long as we stayed off the field itself. Before the game started an OSU rep would pull us all together and point out the coaches box, a white chalk line on the two 30 yard lines, and told us to be sure and stay out of that area. It's Northwestern and there is a dude from the Chicago press standing behind all of us, houndstooth sport coat, gabardine slacks, alligator loafers, trench coat and with a Leica 35mm camera (tres expensive) around his neck. It was a very close game and I noticed that he hadn't taken one picture, but followed the action up and down the field... and what would he take with a 35mm lens anyway? OSU down by 7, fourth quarter, time running out, Bucks have the ball on the 15 and only two time outs, kid catches the ball near the sideline and cuts back into the field instead of going out of bounds and stopping the clock. Hayes screams at the kid to come out, grabs the kid by the face mask and begins to chew on him and dude swings into action, getting right up next to Hayes and the kid and snapping off four or five frames. Play begins and now Hayes is right at the edge of the coaches box and the dude is snapping pics, standing right at the edge of the line. Hayes moves back a foot or so, and the dude steps forward a step ot two, Hayes takes two more steps back and the dude does like wise and is now clearly inside the coaches box, and in a flash Hayes pounces with Ali speed, punches the guy twice, and kicks him and all the timne watching the action on the field. It happened so fast that not one of us on the sidelines could get a picture of it.

3. I'm in Ann Arbor covering the game where Hayes blows up on a horrendous interference non-call and proceeds to break the yard line markers in half. I get on one of the team busses for the trip back to the Detroit airport and the Michigan fans have surrounded the bus and are screaming insults and obsceneties at Hayes... not at the team... at Hayes.
So much for the notion that the "Harvard of the West" is above caring that much about football and that they're "too classy" to get worked up.

[Best Buckeye]

Woody was a teacher of life. He taught his players to go all out, to put everything they had into doing everything they could. And not just in football but in life, thus the paying forward which he borrowed from Emerson.
But in teaching his kids he had to be intense himself or they would not have believed him. Just look at the kids that didn't even play for him that he helped. Look at what he did for Rob Lytle who refused Woody and went to Mich. Woody didn't really hate any team or player. He just did things in the way necessary to teach his kids. Sure he was considered by many to be mean but he wasn't , he was hard in teaching football.
He taught them to be the best so that they could pay froward.

[Trojanalways]

I was flying from San Antonio where I was statiioned as a basic Training Officer at Lackland Air Force base to Dayton, Ohio to be in my youngest sister's wedding. I was flying in uniform, for the military rate. (it was February 1962.) I had a stop-over in Chicago to change planes for Dayton, when I went into the Magazine shop for reading material for my next flight. As I turned a corner to enter the shop, I ran head-on into Woody Hayes." Excuse me, Coach,"I stammered. I was almost speechless running into such an icon. He stood lookiing up at me ( I had never realized he was so short!) studying me up and down in my Air Force Blues and my shinny goldbar, trying to recognize who I was! "Did you ever play for me?" he demanded. "NNoo", I stammmer again. Still starring straight into my eyes with the most intense eyes I had ever seen. He barked, "Well. you should have!" ( This chance meeting is still vivid in my mind as if it were yesterday, even after 45 years. I never knew at that time how much regard he had for those in uniform and his love of Military History. THis was just after my hometown, (Troy,OH) hero, Bob Ferguson ,had finished second in the Heisman Trophy and Woody had been denied a Rose Bowl trip. It was after or on his way to a recruiting trip, I suppose. It was a brief meeting but gave me an insight into how intense of a man he was. I was an OU alumnus, but a Buckeye fan non-the less and have been since Wes Fesler was coach. Our OU coach was the great and humble Carroll Widdoes which I had met at OU and knew he had once coached at OSU. The OU Post always mentioned he had been coach of the year while at OHio State.

[Trojanalways]

Years ago, when Mrs.Hayes was speaking in Troy, I had tickets but gave them to my (Now) wife. She said Mrs. Hayes told this story: "that when she took a long relaxing bubble bath Woody would bring her a glass of wine and a long stemmed rose for her to enjoy . A side of him many Trojans did not know!

[buckcfd]

Merry Christmas, Coach

[Buckin' A]

How could this not be posted yet....



Happy Birthday, Coach.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

wow........Happy Birthday Woody!

[Best Buckeye]

1977 show about Wayne Woodrow Hayes. PLayers and coaches give their thoughts about Woody.
I loved this;

1977 Woody.mpg.torrent (21.8 KB)

[BuckeyeMafia]

Great story from a great mans life.

[Best Buckeye]

When woody went to recruit Jack Tatum (the Assassin) for his in house visit he spent five minutes talking to Jack and 2 hours talking to his mom. He later told Jack he knew he had him because he won over his mom and that Jack was a "momma's boy"
Tatum related how his mom said that she liked that man a lot.

[Best Buckeye]

A Woody note; as a youngster Woody's first job was for a man by the name of Denton Young.











Yes that would be Denton "Cy" Young.

[Best Buckeye]

I recently became acqainted with two men who were friends of Woody.
One was a coach of men's gymnastics in the 60's and 70's and a member of the ncaa men's gymanastics hall of fame.
The other was a high school coach at Scott high school in Toledo back in the 60's and a friend of Woody.
Needless to say I managed to get the "Woody" stories going. so here is one.
At one time there was a player named Aurealius Thomas who fell asleep in Woody's football class. Woody's unceremoniusly dumped his chair over and Thomas landed on his face. After Woody's tirade Thomas simply said something to the effect that he was only "visualizing" what Woody had been talking about.

[BB73]

Originally Posted by Best Buckeye

I recently became acqainted with two men who were friends of Woody.
One was a coach of men's gymnastics in the 60's and 70's and a member of the ncaa men's gymnasics hall of fame.
The other was a high school coach at Scott high school in Toledo back in the 60's and a friend of Woody.
Needless to say I managed to get the "Woody" stories going. so here is one.
At one time there was a player named Aurelious Thomas who fell asleep in Woody's football class. Woody's unceremoniusly dumped his chair over and Thomas landed on his face. After Woody's tirade Thomas simply said something to the effect that he was only "visualizing" what woody had been talking about.

For those that don't know that name, Aurealius Thomas was an All-American on the '57 National Championship team, and is a member of the College Football Hall Of Fame.

But in what should not be a surprise, his football abilities apparently didn't warrant special treatment from Woody.

bp.Aurealius Thomas

[Best Buckeye]

Once a high school coach and some of his captains were invited to see the Buckeyes play up in Ann Arbor. They were subsequently invited to enter the tunnel where they were met by .. nobody. After a time Woody happened to come out into the tunnel and asked his friend , the coach to introduce his captains. Upon being introduced to the first a kid named Cole, he remarked Oh the wrestler, I' ve admired watching you wrestle since you were a sophomore. And the second Woody remarked that he knew the boys dad well. A kid named Green, whose dad played for the Browns.

Cole went on to play for TU for Frank Lauterbur during their 35 game win streak and Green played at BG.

Woody then invited the kids to come on in and meet his men.
Imagine what that would have felt like.
I would have peed my pants or something .

This is one of the weapons Woody used in his recruiting. He knew of , or knew every athelete in every sport who excelled in that sport.
He knew their parents and as much as he could learn about them if he developed any interest at all in them.

[mrmozambique]

Is anyone still seeding this one? I was only able to get 7mb or so before it went out a few days ago. Thanks to whomever seeded this one!