Wayne W. Hayes, 1935
B.A., Denison University
M.A., The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Citation awarded on Saturday, June 7, 1952
Big Ten football coaching represents the pinnacle of the collegiate sports world. Wayne “Woody” Woodrow Hayes became the Ohio State University’s 19th grid mentor last year after successful years of coaching at Miami University and Denison University following World War II. Under him Denison won the final game in 1946 to start an 18-game winning streak. In 1949, he moved to Miami as head coach where he ran the win-streak to 19.
Hayes’ 1950 Miami team established a new scoring record of 322 points, won the Mid-American Conference title and went on to a 34-21 Salad Bowl win over Arizona State.
Clean, hard-fought contests marked Woody’s first season with the Buckeyes. Illinois, the Conference champion, lost no games, but tied one. That was Ohio State. The runner-up, Wisconsin, lost one to the champion and tied one, against Ohio State.
Hayes’ traits include virtually year-round, around-the-clock devotion to football. In teaching football, he likes to combine the best points of both small-group work and squad spirit.
He enlisted in the Navy five months before Pearl Harbor and was discharged after World War II as a lieutenant commander, having commanded the PC 1251 in the Palau Islands invasion, and the Destroyer Escort “Rinehart” in both Atlantic and Pacific operations.
