Dean Hayes Tribute

 MTSU Track Coach Dean Hayes died yesterday, he was 84 and in his 57th yr at MTSU.   

I had a history with Dean, as he allowed me to race in some of my first DI college meets indoors at the Murphy Center.   

Dean also recruited my brother Tom, as a pole vaulter in 1980, who still holds the MTSU school record 41 yrs later.   Dean Hayes, I think was the longest serving MTSU staff member in any area when he died.  

I first approached Dean Hayes (with a little apprehension) in 2011 to race in an indoor MTSU DI college meet at age 51. He told me, "Well OK, but don't tell anyone." In my first meets, Dean watched me very closely coming out of the blocks... making sure I knew what I was doing. It was quite a stretch for him to allow a 51+ yr old to race at MTSU in his meets. After those first meets, I raced again repeatedly at MTSU's Murphy Center with the permission of coach Hayes, and I saw him countless times at local meets at Vanderbilt, TSU, and other places... as well as training on the home track that bears his name. I remember our time and conversations fondly. I remember his workouts taped to that machine box by the track. I remember racing my very first 400m at Vanderbilt at age 51 (56.71). Coach Hayes came up to me and said, "I see you made it all the way around," with a smirk. lol. A few, years ago at Vanderbilt, I complained about my 200m time, Coach Hayes reminded me, "Well, you're getting old, son." He was always stoic but supportive.

I also enjoyed training and hanging with the MTSU team.   A few times I trained with the elite women, All-Americans like Abike E.,  Agnes. A,  Janet A. ... all from Africa on track scholarship.

From the DNJ:

Hayes guided the MTSU programs to 29 Ohio Valley Conference titles, 18 Sun Belt championships and 20 NCAA top-25 finishes. His athletes have earned 124 All-America honors, four have become national champions and several have competed internationally in the Olympics , World University Games and Pan-American Games. He won four Conference USA titles (three women's titles, one men) after MTSU joined the league in 2011. He won 15 coach of the year awards in the Ohio Valley Conference, 15 in the Sun Belt and three in C-USA. Hayes has coached five NCAA champions, most recently Kigen Chemadi, who won the 3,000-meter steeplechase title last June. As well as his Olympic coaching stint, Hayes worked the World University Games in Kobe, Japan (1985); Goodwill Games in Seattle (1990); World Cup in London (1994); World Championships in Athens, Greece (1997); Goodwill Games in New York (1998) and as an assistant at the World University Games in Bucharest, Romania (1981) and the World Championships in Helsinki (1983).

Thank you coach Hayes for your leadership and contributions to track. Thank you for allowing me to participate and helping masters track career.

RIP

Photos: 

1) with coach Hayes at Vanderbilt

2) with coach Hayes at the Dean Hayes Track, MTSU

3) with MTSU's elite women in training: All Americans Abike and Agnes

4) with the MTSU team at Vanderbilt - John, Agnes, Abike, Janet