Background
Born in Eastland, Texas, Hayden Fry was descended from one of the Texas First Families; his great-great-grandfather fought beside General Sam Houston in the Mexican War against Santa Anna in the battle of San Jacinto. Fry's family moved to Odessa, Texas, when he was eight years old.
Fry worked multiple jobs as a child to help his family through the Great Depression. He also played sports, partly to stay out of trouble. Hayden played basketball, football, and track, but he most loved and was most successful at football, and Odessa was a football town.
When Fry played safety and quarterback for Odessa High School in the 1940s, their stands routinely had sellout crowds. In Fry's senior year, Odessa won 14 straight games, scoring almost 400 points and allowing about 50. Odessa did not commit a single turnover all season. The Texas state playoffs placed every school into a single bracket. At the end of the year, Hayden Fry quarterbacked Odessa to the Texas state high school championship in 1946.
Fry then played at Baylor University from 1947–1950. Baylor had a 26–13–2 record during Fry's four years there. Fry started a few games as an upperclassman at Baylor, but he could never win the full-time starting quarterback job. He graduated from Baylor with a degree in psychology in 1951.
Fry was an American history teacher and assistant football coach at Odessa High School for a year in 1951 before joining the U.S. Marine Corps in 1952. During his time in Odessa, Fry met and befriended a young George H. W. Bush, who would become the 41st President of the United States.
Fry served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1952–1955. He played with the Quantico Marines football team in 1953, winning the Marine Corps championship and playing in the Poinsettia Bowl. Fry also coached a six man football team while in the Marines, and the unique style of play allowed Fry to innovate and invent new creative schemes. He became friends with Al Davis, who was coaching a rival military team; Davis would later become the famous owner of the Oakland Raiders. Fry's time coaching and serving in the Marines were an asset as he began his coaching career. Fry was discharged from the Marines in February 1955 with the rank of captain.
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