Pro Football: Cowboy from Olympus

The reports were terrible when he first met the pros in the Cleveland Browns-College All-Star game last Au gust. Read one: “He has trouble catching the ball, and he doesn’t have good moves.” Read another: “He has 9.1 speed and 12.5 hands.” On that basis, the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys might well have wondered whether they had bought a lemon in Bob Hayes — a $100,000 lemon, to be exact.

Everybody knew that Hayes could run: he had won two gold medals at the 1964 Olympics, was the world record holder at 60 yds. (5.9 sec.), 100 yds. (9.1 sec.) and 100 meters (10 sec.). But so could Frank Budd, Ray Norton and Glenn Davis — all track stars and all pro-football failures. At 6 ft. and 181 lbs., Hayes was also one of the smallest men on the Cowboys’ roster, and in early practice sessions he couldn’t do anything right. “He batted down the ball instead of catching it,” recalls Dallas Flanker Buddy Dial. “He looked like he belonged on defense.”

A Zag & Two Zigs. Yet to everyone’s amazement, Coach Tom Landry tore up his whole offense two weeks before the season started and rebuilt it around Bob Hayes. Bad hands, eh? Against the New York Giants, Hayes pulled in a wobbly screen pass from Quarterback Don Meredith and ran 45 yds. for a touchdown. Dallas won the game, 31-2.

Bad moves? Against the Washington Redskins, Hayes was guarded by Cornerback Johnny Sample, a clever, seven-year veteran who did not give up a single touchdown pass all last year. On a little “slant-in” pass play designed for short yardage, Bob zigged left, zagged right, zigged back—and left Sample standing there with his legs crossed as Hayes scampered 45 yds. for a TD.

Final score: Dallas 27, Washington 7.

With the 1965 season only two weeks old, the Dallas Cowboys are the only undefeated team in the N.F.L.’s Eastern Conference, and Bob Hayes, 22, is the most exciting new figure in all of pro football. Playing split end he has handled the ball only four times. Once, he ran 11 yds. for a touchdown. The other three were passes. Hayes averaged 42.3 yds. per catch and scored two more TDs. He should have scored more. He had one TD pass called back because of a teammate’s penalty and his first completion against the Giants was good for only 37 yds. because Hayes outran his own interference. Afterward, on the bench, Fellow Cowboy J. D. Smith set Bob straight: “You got to hold up and let people help you.”

A Sock & a Bomb. Obviously Hayes is a quick study. From End Coach Red Hickey, he has already learned that his method of pass receiving was wrong. “I used to jump and catch the ball at my stomach,” he says. “Mr. Hickey taught me that I gotta catch the ball on the run, or the defensive backs are gonna smack me good.” From the Cowboys’ all-pro end, Frank Clarke, Hayes has learned the proper way to catch “the bomb”—the high pass. “I used to catch it from the front, with my thumbs pointed together. Frank taught me to take it over my shoulder, just let the ball nestle in my hands, with the thumbs pointed out.”

In his very first game, Hayes cut down New York Cornerback Dick Lynch with a vicious block. “I didn’t know you could hit that hard,” said Lynch. Bob replied: “Well, you’re lyin’ on the ground, ain’t you?” Last week he got a typical rookie’s razzing from Washington’s Johnny Sample: every time he tried to block Sample, the defensive man would jump aside and slap Bob’s plastic helmet with his palm.

Finally, head ringing, he decided that enough was enough. Says Hayes: “I hit Sample on the jaw, and he didn’t give me any more trouble.”