Reeves honors Hall of Famer Hayes

By Ken Sugiura

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dan Reeves was a 21-year-old football player scared out of his mind.

He was flying out of Atlanta to California in the summer of 1965, headed toward Dallas Cowboys training camp. On the flight with him were two other Cowboys rookies: Bob Hayes, a year removed from winning gold medals in the 100-meter dash and the 4x100 relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics, and Jethro Pugh, a defensive tackle who was about 6-foot-6, 250 pounds.

Said Reeves, “I’m going, Holy mackerel, the world’s fastest human and the biggest man I’ve ever seen, and I’m going to training camp to fight for a position with these guys.”

So began a long-lasting friendship between Reeves and Hayes, the football great who Saturday will be inducted posthumously into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Bob always had that smile on his face,” said Reeves, who played alongside Hayes for eight seasons with the Cowboys. “Such a good guy.”

Reeves, who lives in Atlanta after playing and coaching in the NFL for 38 years (including almost seven seasons with the Falcons), remembers Hayes as a devastating offensive force and an easy-going card-playing partner.

Hayes impacted forever the NFL. He set Cowboys records as a rookie for receiving yards (1,003) and touchdowns (13). Unable to cover him one-on-one, teams began to use zone defenses to try to contain Hayes, popularizing a scheme still used today.

Hayes was so fast, Reeves said, that quarterback Don Meredith could take only a three-step dropback before throwing deep to him. If Meredith took his customary five-step drop, Hayes would outrun Meredith’s arm.

In 1966, the Cowboys scored 445 points, a team record that stood for 14 years. Hayes had perhaps his best season — 64 catches for 1,232 yards and 13 touchdowns. With so much coverage on his teammate, Reeves scored 16 touchdowns, tying for most in the NFL.

Said Reeves, “For me to score 16 touchdowns, somebody had to help.”

During that time, Reeves and Hayes grew as friends, defying the racial climate of the time. In 1965, the year they met, a race riot in Los Angeles killed 34. Martin Luther King Jr. led civil-rights activists in a march from Selma to Montgomery for black voting rights. Reeves played collegiately at South Carolina, which would not integrate its football team until 1970. Before he reached the Cowboys, Reeves had never had a black teammate.

“Here was a guy from South Georgia during the time of segregation, and I just became really good friends with Bob,” Reeves said. “You couldn’t help but like the guy.”

Hayes busted Reeves’ chops over his deep South ways. Reeves returned fire by teasing him about his suspect hands. Reeves and his wife, Pam, socialized with Hayes and his wife. They were among many couples, black and white, who congregated after home games.

“It was just great to be able to party with those guys and understand that color means nothing; it really didn’t,” said Reeves. “That was a great moment in my life, and Bob Hayes was a big part of it.”

Hayes and Reeves stayed in touch after their Cowboys days ended. As Hayes battled alcohol and drug addiction and spent 10 months in prison in 1979, Reeves and other former teammates provided Hayes money to help him get back on his feet.

They last saw each other in 1996 when Reeves coached the New York Giants and played a preseason game in Jacksonville, Hayes’ hometown. In 2002, at the age of 59, Hayes died of kidney failure after bouts with other ailments.

Hayes’ son, Bob Jr., will speak on his behalf at the induction.

“I just wish that he would have been able to go into the Hall of Fame while he was alive,” Reeves said. “He was certainly deserving.”