The colorful character known as Woody Hayes was born Wayne Woodrow Hayes in February 1913 and had a lasting impact on the sport of college football, and in particular at The Ohio State University (OSU), where he was the head football coach. for 28 years of his 74 years of life. . Despite passing away more than two decades ago on March 12, 1987, Coach Hayes is still fondly remembered each fall during college football season and especially in early November when the arch-rivals Ohio State Buckeyes and University of Michigan Wolverines They face each other on the iron grid.

During his tenure as football coach with the Buckeyes that spanned from 1951 to 1978, Coach Hayes won three national titles (1954, 1957, and 1968) and thirteen Big Ten Conference titles. Woody Hayes coached 276 college football games at Ohio State and during those contests he posted an impressive 205-61-10.

Despite a storied record of success and admiration, the 1983 College Football Hall of Famer is sadly best remembered by some casual fans for the incident that resulted in his early dismissal. In the 1978 Gator Bowl which took place on December 29, 1978, Hayes, 65, punched a Clemson University Tigers football player in the face.

The final moments of icon Woody Hayes’ famous coaching career occurred with OSU trailing Clemson by a score of 17-15 with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Ohio State was leading the offense for the lead when an errant pass from Art Schlichter (Ohio State quarterback) was intercepted by a Clemson defender named Charlie Bauman.

After the interception, Bauman was forced out of bounds on what turned out to be the Buckeyes sideline near Woody Hayes. As the Clemson player got to his feet after being tackled on the sideline, Hayes, 65, struck the Clemson player through his facemask. The next day (December 30, 1978) OSU fired Woody Hayes for his unacceptable actions.

Long before Hayes was relieved of his coaching duties at Ohio State with such a poor grade in late 1978, he was an accomplished high school athlete in the early 1930s and played college football at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where he was even in a fraternity (Sigma Chi). Approximately five months before the infamous bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Hayes joined the US Navy, eventually becoming a lieutenant commander during World War II. After World War II, Hayes spent three seasons coaching at his alma mater before moving to the University of Miami (Ohio) for the 1949 and 1950 seasons. The remainder of his coaching career would be his long 28-year stint. with Ohio State from 1951 to 1978. Coach Woody Hayes passed away less than a decade after coaching his last football game.