Bob Hayes - Still the Fastest Human?

INTRODUCTION From The Sports Time Traveler™

I’m taking a break from baseball to post an article about football and track & field.

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You can find the daily updates on my website at www.thesportstimetraveler.com

Just look for the “1973 METS Update” tab in the menu at the top of the page.

Or go directly to that page at this link: 1973 METS Update Page

And now today’s article.

Bob Hayes - Still the Fastest Human?

DALLAS, TX - August 20, 1973

I’ve traveled back in time 50 years to find out more about the buzz in the Dallas Cowboys training camp here in 1973.

The talk is that Bob Hayes is back.

The 3 time pro bowl wide receiver, who led the NFL in yards per reception in 1970 and 1971, was injured and ineffective during the 1972 season.

But in the 1st preseason game last weekend against the Raiders, Hayes was looking awfully good.

Tom Landry told the Irving Daily News on Friday, “Bob Hayes played exceptionally well. Hayes did as well as I’ve ever seen him.”

Roger Kaye, of the Fort-Worth Star Telegram described the Cowboys drive of the game against the Raiders, “The payoff came on a beautiful 55 yard pass (from Roger Staubach) to Bob Hayes, who hauled the ball in down the middle behind everybody at the 25 and raced into the end zone for the touchdown. It was Hayes 1st touchdown since 1971.”

Hayes was able to get behind everybody because he might still be the World’s Fastest Human, an unofficial title that was universally bestowed upon him by sportswriters after his dominating performances in winning the 100 meter dash and anchoring the 4 x 100 meter relay gold medal team in the 1964 Olympics.

SPECIAL NOTE to Readers and Listeners of The Sports Time Traveler™

I interrupt this article briefly to inform you that in the summer of 2024, I will be going back in time, precisely 60 years, to cover the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and Bob Hayes. I can’t wait!

Now back to the article.

When the Cowboys won the Super Bowl in January, 1972, Hayes became the only athlete to ever win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring.

And now it seems he’s as fast as ever.

In the offseason, Hayes signed with the International Track Association to run a series of 40 yard dashes in their pro track tour that took place during the spring.

The season culminated with a meet in Madison Square Garden. The next morning, June 7, 1973, the back page of the New York Daily News had a large picture of Bob Hayes winning the 40 yard dash.

That victory was Hayes’ 14th in 15 pro track meets around the country.

And if you believe Hayes he also won the one he didn’t win.

The loss came against Cliff Branch, also a wide receiver with the Raiders, in a slow race, timed in 4.5 seconds, in the 3rd meet of the season in San Francisco.

But Hayes contends he lost that race due to poor officiating. Last month he told Larry Bortstein of the Christian Science Monitor News Service, “I really won the race. There’s really no one that can beat me.”

Sports Illustrated, which ran a feature story on Hayes in their July 2nd issue, excused Hayes’ loss, reporting that the night before the race against Branch, “Hayes had lifted weights for the 1st time in a new Dallas Cowboys off-season conditioning program.”

Hayes, who still holds the 100 yard dash world record of 9.1 seconds, that he set in 1964, ran a season best time of 4.3 in the 40 yard dash this spring. He also consistently ran 4.4 in other meets. And he feels that the training for the track season has him in great shape now. Talking about his 4.3 40 time, Hayes said, “That’s just as fast as I ever ran for 40 yards.”

His participation in the ITA pro track circuit was initially frowned upon by the Cowboys management who feared he might get injured.

But now the Cowboys are crediting his training with getting him into a level of condition they haven’t seen him in a long time. Terry Holman wrote in the Monitor, a newspaper in McAllen, Texas, on August 8th, “Now the coaches think the off season activity kept the Poke receiver in his best condition ever.” Note that “Poke” is a nickname for the Cowboys in Texas that has to do with the activity of poking to keep herds of cows together.

Sports Illustrated quoted Cowboys front office manager Curt Mosher as saying, “I wouldn’t have believed he could still run that fast.”

And Sports Illustrated included this in their article on Hayes, “Is it possible at 30 he is still the World’s Fastest Human? ‘It’s possible,’ he says.”

Last month, Murray Olderman addressed the issue of the World’s Fastest Human in a syndicated article that appeared across the country.

Olderman noted that the reigning 1972 Olympic champion at the 100 meters, Valery Borzov of the Soviet Union, has looked out of shape in track meets this summer, leaving it clearly up for debate regarding the current holder of the “World’s Fastest Human” title.

He then wrote, “Let’s not forget the old pro, 30 year old Bob Hayes… consistently in the 4.3 seconds range for the 40. That’s one reason the Dallas Cowboys shipped off their other wide receivers and kept Hayes.”

Unfortunately after Hayes big TD in the opening preseason game last week, he was held out of the 2nd preseason game, on Saturday night, after having his knee drained.

But there are high hopes for Hayes, certainly the fastest man in football, if not the world, when the season gets underway next month.

POSTSCRIPT From The Sports Time Traveler™

Bob Hayes remains the only athlete to win both an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring.

Thanks for reading.