DURHAM, N.C. – Faith, fate and determination can take you a long way in life. Just ask football coaching legend and North Carolina Central alumnus Bill Hayes.
"I had polio in the second grade," Hayes said. "I stayed at Duke Hospital and was fighting to walk. I remember looking out the window at guys playing basketball as I was laying in the bed. I remember asking God if you can get me out this bed, I will do something special."
Hayes kept his promise to God. He later emerged as a football and track & field standout at Durham Hillside High.
An All-State football player, Hayes captained the North Carolina team in the Shrine Bowl high school all-star game versus South Carolina. The talented Hayes also was a state champion in the discus and shot put.
His success continued in college. Hayes was a three-time All-America lineman at NCCU in the 1960s.
His marvelous athletic career on the gridiron was only the prelude to an illustrious coaching career. Hayes, now retired, is in multiple Hall of Fames, including the North Carolina Central Athletic Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Hayes won numerous coaching honors and boasted championship programs at Winston-Salem State and North Carolina A&T from the 1970s to the 2000s.
Hayes was also a successful athletic director at three universities including his alma mater North Carolina Central.
Hayes' coaching history is tied to HBCUs but his biggest achievement may have been at Wake Forest, where he became the ACC's first black football coach in the early 1970s during the beginning of integration.
His venture to Wake Forest almost didn't happen, but fate intervened. Hayes accepted the Hillside head coaching position after one year there as offensive line coach. However, the superintendent office pegged him to be the next head coach without informing the Hillside principal.
"I thought I was going to help my former [long-time] head coach Russell Blunt, and take over when he retired," Hayes said. "But he was being pushed out to bring me in. Then the Hillside principal told me if I don't win at least 9 games, he'll fire my ass."
Hillside was 3-6 overall the previous season.
That same day, Hayes had job interviews lined up at Wake Forest and Johnson C. Smith. Wake Forest hired Hayes on the spot and the rest, they say, is history. Two days later, Hayes resigned from Hillside.
"I was not aware," said Hayes about being the ACC's first black football coach. "Actually, my goal was to be the head coach at Hillside."
Chuck Mills, the new Wake Forest Head Coach at the time, was impressed with Hayes' work ethic and his ability to relate to players, regardless of race. Famed female sports reporter Mary Garber of the Winston-Salem Journal was Hayes' biggest advocate. It was only two years ago that Hayes was defensive coordinator on the 1971 North Forsyth state 4-A championship squad.
"Mary Garber may have laid the groundwork for me to get that job," Hayes said.
Though the only black coach on the Wake Forest staff, Hayes never felt uncomfortable thanks to Mills.
"I was very lucky in my role at Wake Forest," Hayes said. "My head coach, who hired me, was very different. He was a California guy. Segregation was not a part of anything he was used to. He made sure that every opportunity presented to me was on the up-and-up.
"One day, he said, Bill, I need you to go and speak for me, I'm overbooked. I said Coach, the Raleigh Country Club is segregated. He said it won't be when you go down there and speak."
Hayes became one of Mills most trusted assistants. Mills was impressed with Hayes' work ethic and football knowledge.
The Winston-Salem Journal, which was the local newspaper, thought so much of Hayes that it ran a weekly article written by him about Wake Forest's upcoming opponent.
"I acted like I was supposed to belong," Hayes said. "I was a football coach who happened to be black. I was never treated as a black coach. That was a big difference."
As a top recruiter, Hayes brought some of the region's best talent – black and white – to Wake Forest such as all-time rushing great James McDougald and future NFL players Clark Gaines and Larry Tearry.
But Hayes was much more than a scout. He coached the offensive line and running backs from 1973 to 1975 for the Demon Deacons.
It was rare for a black assistant to be a position coach at a major college. Most black coaches during that time were only hired to recruit black players, who were starting to appear on predominantly white rosters.
"I remember when I used to go to the AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) convention every January," Hayes added. "It would be a group of black coaches. They would say, hey man, that's Bill Hayes. That guy is a DI (Division I) coach and he coaches a position."
A trailblazer in the ACC, Hayes opened the door for other black assistants such as Duke's Bishop Harris and Clemson's Bill Swinger. Harris is a familiar name to NCCU alums as he and Hayes were college football teammates for the Eagles. Harris, who coached in the college and NFL ranks, eventually returned to N.C. Central as head football coach in the early 1990s.
Despite racial barriers being broken during integration, black coaches were still scarce on major college football staffs.
"Down in the deep south, there were few black coaches," Hayes said. "Can you imagine scouting Ole Miss and Clemson in the early 70s?"
Despite the racial climate, his memories on the road were mostly positive.
"I experienced the appreciation of the staff in those buildings, watching the expression on the faces of the janitors and cooks when I walked in the stadium," Hayes said. "I had the best of foods; they took care of me. When I went to the press box, they would lay my food out. They were proud of me without saying anything. It made me feel very proud and determined."
After three years at Wake Forest, fate once again changed the course of Hayes' career. Winston-Salem State was looking for a new head football coach, and Hall of Fame basketball coach Clarence "Bighouse" Gaines, also the athletic director, reached out to Hayes.
"We were practicing at Wake Forest," Hayes said. "Bighouse came to our practice. After practice, he said, 'coach I need a big favor. We have a vacancy and our people don't have a clue what it takes to coach college football. I need you to talk to the committee.' I told them what Winston-Salem State need to have in place to put together a quality football program.
"After I was through, this lady asked me if I wanted to be the head coach at Winston-Salem State. I told her I got a great job at Wake Forest. Coach Gaines later told me the committee wants me to be the head coach. I thought I might have the best job of any black coach but I might use this to get a raise at Wake Forest."
But Hayes changed his mind after a conversation with Dr. Gene Hooks, then the Wake Forest Athletic Director.
"Hooks said he would give me a raise and elevate me on the coaching staff," Hayes said. "He said no matter who the head coach is you will always be one of the top assistants. I thought about what he said. How long will it be before I become a head coach, 10 years, 20 years? I decided to take the Winston-Salem State job. I didn't want to leave Wake Forest but I wanted to be a head coach."
At first, Hayes thought he made a catastrophic mistake. At Wake Forest, he had a car, house and golf membership at a country club. At WSSU, Hayes didn't have an office when he stepped foot on campus.
It turned out to be the right choice all along. He became the new Rams coach on New Year's Day in 1976 which symbolized what was to come. Winston-Salem State, 1-10 overall prior to Hayes' arrival, turned over a new leaf under the first-year head coach.
It took two seasons for the Rams to reach the pinnacle. They posted back-to-back CIAA crowns in 1977 and 1978, sporting 11-0 regular-season marks both years.
Under Hayes' direction, Winston-Salem State became a football powerhouse from 1976 to 1987, winning three CIAA titles and reaching the NCAA Division II playoffs twice including a national semifinal appearance.
His success continued down the road at North Carolina A&T. As head coach from 1988 to 2002, Hayes led the Aggies to two HBCU national titles, three MEAC championships and two NCAA Division I-AA playoff berths including a spot in the quarterfinals.
Later as an NCCU administrator, Hayes was named CIAA Athletic Director of the Year in 2006. Winston-Salem State played in the 2012 NCAA Division II national championship game during his tenure as Rams' athletic director.
Hayes won numerous coaching awards, sent a load of players to the NFL and garnered 196 victories in 27 years of coaching. He carved out a prestigious career through hard work, believing in God and making the right decisions.
Who knows how his career might have turned out if he didn't coach at Wake Forest.
"It's no telling where I would be," Hayes said. "I probably would have been a struggling high school coach in the Raleigh-Durham area."
