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Bob Hayes - posting
on the Internet on Release on Bob Hayes' death and Justin Clouder's analysis
of "greatest sprinters of all-time: from 1997.
The man many thought
of as the greatest sprinter of all time, Bob Hayes, 1964 Tokyo Olympic
100m Champ, and later a pro footballer with the Dallas Cowboys, died just
a day or so back, with below an analysis of the top sprinters in world
history, comparing Hayes and Carl Lewis. Interesting reading by Justin
Clouder - Articles - Joins
Cowboys "Ring of Honor" - 8.6
second 100m anchor at 1964 Olympics!!! - Bob
Hayes Invitational Track Meet - Biography
Bob Hayes as Cowboy
- right - winning 100m lane 1 in Tokyo on dirt track!!
USATF mourns the loss of Bob Hayes
INDIANAPOLIS – Olympic 100-meter gold medalist and former world
record
holder “Bullet” Bob Hayes died Wednesday night in his hometown
of
Jacksonville, Fla., after battling liver and kidney ailments and prostate
cancer. He was 59.
At the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Hayes earned the title “World’s
Fastest
Human” by winning the gold medal in tying the then-world record
of 10.05
seconds and anchoring the victorious USA 4x100m relay, which set the world
record of 39.06 seconds. Hayes’ split in the 400-meter relay was
a
remarkable 8.6 seconds. Hayes was inducted into the National Track &
Field
Hall of Fame in 1976.
“It’s a great tragedy,” said USATF CEO Craig Masback.
“He revolutionized
two sports. His raw power in sprinting put him years ahead of his time
and
his 4x1 anchor leg is recognized as probably the greatest relay leg ever.”
“As an athlete and a sprinter, with this huge loss it’s difficult,”
said
five-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones. “Everybody is in a positive
frame
of mind and his legacy will live on for our generation and younger
generations.”
“I saw it on TV today,” said men’s 100m world record
holder Tim Montgomery.
“Anytime you have a fellow sprinter die, it’s sad. I saw footage
of his
Olympic race and he was making holes in the track with his feet (the race
was contested on a cinder track). It’s incredible how much times
have
changed.”
Hayes, who won the national outdoor 100-meter title in 1962, 1963 and
1964,
was a track star at Florida A&M University, where he won the NCAA
Outdoor
200-meter title in 1964. Hayes switched his focus from track to football
when in 1965 the Dallas Cowboys took a chance on the speedster with under
developed football skills by drafting him in the seventh round.
Hayes had an immediate impact on the NFL. As a rookie he amassed 1,000
yards and 12 touchdowns. He led the league with an average of 21.8 yards
per
catch.
Because of his blazing speed, Hayes could not be covered with traditional
man-to-man schemes, causing teams throughout the league to devise zone
pass
defenses that remain prevalent in today’s game.
After the Cowboys won the Super Bowl in 1971, Hayes became the only athlete
ever to win an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. More than 30
years
later, he remains the only man ever to accomplish that feat.
In his 11-year NFL career Hayes had 71 touchdowns and three trips to the
Pro Bowl. He averaged 20 yards per catch.
Hayes is survived by his mother, a brother and sister and five children.
Funeral arrangements have not been announced.
Justin writes:
The greatest 100m Runner Of All Time
Quite a subject heading, and a considerable claim to make about any athlete,
especially in an event with as great a history of remarkable athletes
and
characters as the men's 100m.
However, among track & field historians, writers and statisticians
there is
remarkeble agreement about the greatest male 100m runners of all time.
Two
names always seem to come to the top of the pile - Carl Lewis and Bob
Hayes.
In my view, although Lewis would rack up more "points" in terms
on titles
won, times run, longevity etc, there is no doubt that Bob Hayes is the
most
awesome sprinting force of modern times. This piece is a summary of his
career highlights, in the same mould as my earlier piece on Tommie Smith.
Hayes was born on 20th December 1942. He was a massive man - a fraction
under 6'0" tall and over 190 lbs. He was not a classic stylist by
any means
- it was once written of him that "he doesn't so much run a race
as beat it
to death". His first sport was US Football - he won a scholarship
to Florida
A&M University on the back of his football prowess and after retiring
from
T&F went on to an equally glorious career playing for the Dallas Cowboys.
Most of Hayes' sprinting was done while at college, and it was all fitted
in
around the college football season!
He first burst to the fore with a 100y time of 9.3 in a heat of the NAIA
in
Sioux Falls on 2nd June 1961, aged 18 years 5 months. This equalled the
World Record but was never ratified as 22 days later Frank Budd ran the
first ever 9.2, and Hayes' mark was forgotten.
Early in 1962 (on 17th February) Hayes equalled Budd's mark with a 9.2
of
his own at Coral Gables. This mark was not ratified as the starting gun
was
of the wrong calibre (!). On 12th May that year he ran 9.3, at the SIAC
champs, a meeting for black college athletes. It was reported that the
timekeepers all recorded times in the 9.0-9.1 range, but the time was
rounded off to a less "inflamatory" 9.3 (the ame time he had
run in both
heat and semi). Hayes was told by his coach that because all the
timekeepers, judges and athletes were black, no-one would have believed
a
9.0 or 9.1 mark and they would have been a laughing stock. Hayes went
on to
win the AAU title from a strong field including Harry Jerome, Paul Drayton,
Ira Murchison and Frank Budd.
Also in 1962, Hayes lost the only races he would ever lose at 100m (he
never
lost at 100y). He ran 10.1 during a European visit in the summer of '62
but
also lost very narrowly to Jerome, although some observers claimed the
judges had given it to the wrong man. Hayes was also beaten earlier in
the
year, by Roger Sayers in the NAIA 100m final, having missed three weeks
of
training recovering from a virus.
1963 started with two blistering long sprint WRs - 20.5 for 200m in Pointe
a
Pitre on 10 February to equal the World Record, and a 20.5 for 220y (worth
20.4 for 200m) at Coral Gables on 2nd March. Following this came two
landmark short sprint times. First, on 27th April, Hayes became the first
man to run 100m in under 10.0, with a wind assisted 9.9 at the MSR in
Walnut
beating Henry Carr and John Gilbert, both of whom ran 10.0w). Then, at
the
AAU in St Louis on 21st June he ran 9.1 for 100y in his semi final, the
first such time ever. He repeated the time to win the final, albeit wind
assisted.
1964 started with a bang, with a 9.1 for 100y and a blistering 20.1 for
220y
in Coral Gables on New Year's Day. Neither was ratified as a WR because
there was no wind guage. He then went indoors and ran a WR equalling 6.0
for
60y five times. Among these was a performance in New York auto timed at
5.99. It is still uncertain if this is a reliable auto time, but if it
is,
it has never been beaten to this day, at 55m or at 60y. Second on that
day
was rising star Charlie Greene, who would go on to a bronze in the 1968
OG.
Moving outdoors again, Hayes twice more ran 9.1 for 100y, at Orangeburg
on
18th April and at Nashville on 2nd May. Neither was ratified as a WR -
a
recurring theme during Hayes career. He then won the Olympic trials 100m
in
10.1 and placed third in the 200m (he gave his spot up for WR holder Henry
Carr, who went on to win in Tokyo).
On to Tokyo in October, the zenith and the final act of Hayes' brief
career.
He breezed through the heats and quarters in 10.4 and 10.3 respectively
on
14th October. The next day, at 10am, he produced an amazing semi final
run
of 9.91 with a 5.3m/s wind behind him. This was the first time anyone
had
beaten 10.00 with auto timing, and it remainded the fastest ever run until
William Snoddy got on the end of an 11.2m/s wind in Dallas in 1977 and
ran
9.87. No one ran faster in the Olympics (aside from Ben Johnson) until,
incredibly, the three medallists in Atlanta, 32 years later!
If it is hard to fathom the quality of this run, what he achieved in
the
final is even more staggering. Hayes drew the inside lane for the final,
and
the last event before the race was the finish of the 20km walk. Remember,
this was a cinder track, and the inside lane was so chewed up it had to
be
raked! Nevertheless, Hayes won in 10.06. He had a 0.19 gap over Cuba's
Enrique Figuerola, who equalled the previous best ever auto time of 10.25
(Hary in 1960). Third was Harry Jerome, joint world record holder! This
victory margin was not exceeded until Lewis won by 0.20 in 1984. The winning
time was ratified as a WR equalling 10.0, which somewhat understated it.
And yet, Hayes greatest performance was yet to come. Running the last
leg of
the 4x100m, by the time Hayes got the baton, after Paul Drayton, Gerald
Ashworth and Richard Stebbins, the USA were some 3-4m down on the field.
Hayes, in the words of one observer, "exploded down the track in
an eruption
of speed never witnessed before or since". He blew past the field
in 30-40m
and went on to cross the line some 3m clear in a new WR of 39.0. He had
taken 6-8m out of some of the finest sprinters in the world. Various times
have been given for his last leg, the slowest estimate being 8.9 but most
being around 8.6-8.7.
Jocelyn Delecour, France's last leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton
before the relay final that "you can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes".
Drayton was able to reply, after the race "all you need...".
That was Hayes' last race. He signed for the Dallas Cowboys on his return,
commencing a career in US Football which was just as impressive.
One amusing aside to Hayes' 100m victory. During some messing around
in the
village between Hayes, Ralph Boston and Joe Frazier, one of Hayes' spikes
was kicked under a bed. He didn't realise this until he got to the stadium,
and he had to run in borrowed spikes!
It is always fun to wonder what champions of the past would achieve given
today's training methods, nutrition, financial rewards, competition etc.
Hayes achieved all of the above before his 22nd Birthday, running in the
football off-season, on mostly cinder tracks. He estimated that had he
carried on he could have brought his 100m time down by "a couple
of tenths".
My personal view is that if Hayes had trained full time to his mid twenties,
run on today's tracks and had today's social, nutritional and training
benefits, he would be running 100m in at least the low 9.70s and maybe
even
under 9.70.
The greatest? In my view, no contest.
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