RALEIGH, North Carolina — For some, coaching is a profession. For Bill Hayes, it was a calling.
That’s why he decided to jump off the ladder of mainstream opportunity just as he began climbing it in 1976 to take the head coaching job at Winston-Salem State.
Some, including his wife, considered the move a step down from his position at Wake Forest, where he became the first African-American assistant coach in ACC history. But it quickly became a passion for Hayes, who spent the rest of his career toiling and winning in relative anonymity at historically black colleges.
“I remember when I was at Wake Forest, and Winston-Salem State asked me to come be the head football coach. It was crazy,” Hayes said earlier this month when he was inducted as one of the newest members of the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame.
“I had to take a pay cut. My wife said, ‘Are you an idiot?’ But I just had a sense in my heart and soul that those kids needed a guy like me, a guy that was going to be there every day and give them a full day’s work.”
Hayes fulfilled that obligation to his players and then some while going on to become the winningest coach ever at both Winston-Salem State and NC A&T.
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