Bill Hayes will have a busy schedule this year as he has at least two Hall of Fame ceremonies to attend. The 74-year-old former coach for Winston-Salem State and N.C. A&T will be inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame this year. Announced on Tuesday, Hayes is a part of the 15 member class, who will be inducted in May of this year in Raleigh, N.C.
He should have plenty of time to workshop his acceptance speech because in February Hayes will be inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
#NCCU hall of famer & legendary football coach/player Bill Hayes selected for induction into the NC Sports Hall of Fame. CONGRATS!@NCSHOF pic.twitter.com/o6Fk9yZjDl
— NCCU Athletics (@NCCUAthletics) January 9, 2018
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A dream come true
Hayes tells the Winston-Salem Journal that being inducted into his home state’s hall of fame is a special feeling.
“This is a lifetime dream come true,” he said. “This is one of the few things I really wanted and dreamed about.”
Coaching legend
By the time summer rolls around Hayes will be in at least seven different halls of fame. He’s already enshrined in the CIAA, MEAC, N.C. A&T, WSSU, and N.C. Central hall of fame.
2018 North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Inductees:
Donna Andrews, Golf
Scott Bankhead, Baseball
Hal ‘Skinny’ Brown, Baseball
Chris Cammack, Basball
Joey Cheek, Speed Skating
Wes Chesson, Football
Laura Dupont, Tennis
Mindy Ballou Fitzpatrick, Basketball
Bill Hayes, Football
Jack Holley, Football
Paul Jones, Basketball
Mike Martin, Baseball
Frank ‘Jakie’ May, Baseball
Joe West, Baseball Umpire
Fred Whitfield, Basketball
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Bill Hayes is a true Gentleman and invited me and 5 team mates over from Lincoln England to AT&T College.6 white football mad white guys in an all black college I guess we kind of stood out.We trained with the team and learned so much especially how much quicker things were.I ran track to at that time I was a sub 11 second sprinter(100m)
I remember on meeting us Coach Hays took us to his house buying a huge Kentucky spicy bucket.Refusing to let us pay…it was a once in a lifetime opportunity we will never forget.On returning to UK we all played on another level everything seemed like slow motion as we had to up our game massively.
Coach and his wife were so very kind to us as was everyone we met….we laughed allot and took back some beautiful memories.Our coach now sadly passed John Gurga made all this possible like coach Hayes a special man.
So we’ll we’l Coach ! Thank you for giving us such s wonderful opportunity …I salute you and John now as I did back then 😎
Kindest regards always
Mark Marsland