Bob Hayes - High School and College

High School and College

Hayes attended Matthew Gilbert High School (now a middle school) in Jacksonville, where he was a backup halfback on the football team. The 1958 Gilbert High Panthers finished 12-0, winning the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association black school state championship with a 14-7 victory over Dillard High School of Fort Lauderdale before more than 11,000 spectators. In times of segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, yet 50 years later they were recognized as one of the best teams in FHSAA history.

Hayes was also the first person to break six seconds in the 60 yard dash with his indoor world record of 5.9 seconds. While a student at Florida A&M in 1962, Hayes ran a new world record for the 100 yard dash with a time of 9.2 seconds. The next year he broke his own record with a time of 9.1, a record that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974). That same year, Hayes set the world best for 200 meters (20.5 seconds, although the time was never ratified) and ran the 220 yard dash in a time of 20.6 seconds (while running into an eight mph wind).

He was the AAU 100 yard dash champion three years running, from 1962–1964, and in 1964 was the NCAA champion in the 200 meter dash. He would miss part of his senior year in college because of his 1964 Olympic bid for U.S. Gold.