My Run-In With “The Coach,” Woody Hayes

One afternoon Coach Woody Hayes walked into my dorm room. Here’s what happened. 

Woody Hayes built a national reputation as a tough–sometimes violently tough–football coach. When Woody Hayes gave an order everybody jumped.

One afternoon he gave me one order. Just one…

Miami University Special Collections

Wayne Woodrow Hayes is best known as Ohio State’s legendary football coach. But he tuned up for that job in 1949 and 1950 as head coach at Miami University of Ohio, a school known as “The Cradle of Coaches.”

It’s impressive to see just how many major college coaches got their start at Miami. You can view some of them in the photo to the left. You can also read my article, “The Cradle Did Rock,” posted on my web page.

My contact with Coach Hayes happened when both of us were at Miami University.

Here’s the backstory.

Two of the top running backs in the history of Ohio high school football enrolled at Miami in 1950 and played on the freshman team. In 1950 all colleges had freshman teams because there was no jumping from high school to a college varsity–no matter how good you were. And these two guys were really good.

One of those players was Harold “Sandy” Hill from Circleville. The other was Dick Carnes, “The Trojan Terror,” from Troy. These fantastic running backs had just wrapped up high school careers by headlining in Ohio’s annual High School All-Star game.

Sandy Hill (legacy.com)

Sandy Hill (nobody ever called him “Harold”) was a sturdy 5-8, 185 pound halfback who had scored more touchdowns than any player in the history of Ohio high school football. And keep in mind that Ohio was, and still is, a football state.

Dick Carnes (miamiredhawk.com)

Dick Carnes, a 6-4, 240 pound fullback, had a habit of running over people. Rushing for 1,000 plus yards per season was his thing.

I was their roommate at Miami U.

Students used to stop at our dorm room door just to gawk at these two brothers. Among other things, those two all-stars had two of the biggest, heaviest scrapbooks that I had ever seen–scrapbooks choke-full of newspaper clippings and photos.

Ara Parseghian, assistant to Head Coach Hayes, coached my roommates on that freshman team. Ara, a 1947 Miami graduate, followed Hayes as Miami’s head coach (1951-1955). He later made his mark coaching the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1955-1974).

Woody Hayes at Miami U (Pinterest.com)

But, in 1950, Woody Hayes was THE MAN at Miami U.

One afternoon THE MAN knocked on our door. He was there to check on his prize recruits.

The room suddenly got much smaller. Sandy Hill and Dick Carnes stood tall, almost at attention.

Coach Hayes chatted with the players, asking a few questions, and giving them a brief pep talk.

As he prepared to leave he looked me up and down, observing my 110 pounds or so. He then gave me my one and only order:

“Keep ’em studying.”

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Visit my web page, “The Cherokee and the Slave.”