On January 31, 2009 the inductees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be announced. That is 10 days from today. On that date a terrible wrong can be corrected. I believe it will be.
There is a reason why the Veterans Committee put Bob Hayes back on the ballot so soon after he missed out. Simply put, that no vote in 2004 was wrong. His exclusion has always been wrong. In my not so humble opinion, his exclusion is the all time worst by the Hall of Fame.
You cannot begin to measure this man's impact on the game simply by looking at his reception totals stats and that alone. In today's NFL his receptions total looks pedestrian. That's the problem with looking at stats and comparing players. You cannot do it across eras with any degree of accuracy. When Bob Hayes played teams did not throw the ball like they do now. Defenses weren't as handicapped as they are now. On top of this when Hayes played teams only played 14 games instead of 16.
Being just as honest as I possibly can be, in today's NFL Bob Hayes would be a nightmare to try and cover. The only way to stop Bob Hayes was to be physical with him and use Zone Coverage. We've all heard the reports about how the Zone Coverage schemes were invented to contain Bob Hayes. If that doesn't scream impact on the game, then I don't know what does.
In today's NFL Bob Hayes would run right by defenders who could not touch him past 5 yards. As fast as players still are today, no one could have kept up with The Bullet. Teams would definitely play tight Zone and they could not afford to blitz very much.
When people think about fast DBs two names come to mind immediately. Darrell Green and Deion Sanders. I'm telling you point blank, if either of them were chasing Bob Hayes he would pull away from them easily. Putting it as succinctly as possible, Bob Hayes with today's advancements in training, diet, and equipment would make today's sprinters look slow. They didn't have synthetic tracks in 1964. It is very easy for me to believe Hayes would have run the 100 meters around 9.90 just with the advances of equipment and training athletes today enjoy. Add in diet and private trainers and we're talking human lightning.
That was what Hayes was with a football in his hands. A deadly strike. One time Hayes scored an 85 yard TD against the Giants. To score the TD he outran New York Giants CB Carl "Spider" Lockhart to the endzone. Spider Lockhart was a world class sprinter. They were even at the time Hayes caught the ball Hayes had the added burden of holding onto the football. Lockhart lost ground with every step. Hayes beat him to the endzone by 10 yards. After the game Hayes was asked if he was scared Lockhart would catch him. Hayes replied, "naw man, he's just an old 9.3 guy."
That was 1971 when Hayes was starting to "slow down."
9.3 is right around the speed Deion and Green would be at too. Maybe a step faster. I never saw anyone outrun either of them, not even Tony Dorsett who Green famously caught from behind and surprised the heck of out of him. Hayes would have pulled away from either of them and he'd have made it look easy. Once again, advancements in technology, equipment and diet would have been in play. Put Deion and Darrell in 1960's equipment or Hayes in the modern equipment and it he would make them look like old 9.3 guys.
The most amazing sprint in Hayes' life was the anchor leg of the Mens 4 x 100 relay. In those days this was 100 yards, not meters, and the World Record was 9.1 seconds. Hayes, with a moving start at the pass of the baton covered his 100 yards in 8.6 seconds. That would put his time in 100 Meter time at around 9.5 seconds. On a 1964 dirt track no less.
In the 1960's Hayes did something only 1 other WR ever accomplished. Double digit TDs in 4 or more seasons. That other WR is Lance Allworth, and he is in the Hall of Fame. In fact if you look at the TD statistics of any WR who is in the Hall of Fame and played before the relaxed rules and passing surge of the 1980's and you will find that only a handful of them ever produced double digit TDs more than a couple of seasons.
Bob Hayes did it 5 times in the 1960's when Defenses could maul a WR and passes were few and far between. Let that sink in.
Here's a measure of just how amazing Bob Hayes really was. Michael Irvin is 2nd on the all time Cowboys Receiving TDs list with 65 and he is in the Hall of Fame. He trails only The Bullet, who had 70 career Receiving TDs. He did that with 379 fewer receptions than Michael had over their respective careers. Jerry Rice is the greatest WR who ever lived. No one with a brain would dispute this. Bob Hayes scored TDs at a faster rate than even the great Jerry Rice. Jerry found the endzone once ever 5.3 receptions. That makes him 3rd all time for scores per reception. Bob Hayes is the all time leader in that stat with a score every 4.7 times he caught the ball. In other words, if he had 10 receptions in a game it was quite likely he was going to score twice. With today's relaxed rules, it probably would go up. Scratch that, it definitely would go up.
Hayes average per reception was a mind blowing 20.0 yards per catch. Every time he touched the ball. Easily the best ever.
I've heard all the so-called reasons why Bob Hayes has not been honored. I have never heard one of these that is worth the powder to blow it to hell. Putting it in straight talk terms, the Hall of Fame is about impact on the game. Bob Hayes' stats say he is worthy to be there, but hsi stats are pale in comparison to his impact on the game.
Quoting the great Don Shula, this is what he had to say about Bob Hayes. "He changed the game because of his speed," Hall of Fame coach Don Shula said. "He wasn't just the world's fastest human, he was a great athlete and football player. Put that together, and he made you change everything on your defense when you played the Cowboys."
10 days Bob Hayes. In 10 days a tragic wrong can be right. It needs to be right. 10 days...
http://img71.*************/img71/1174/u1581843azj6.jpg
Thanks to bbgun for the picture to add to this thread.
