Monday, March 19, 2001

Ring of Honor talk for Bullet Bob has found new legs

By RANDY GALLOWAY
c.2001 Fort Worth Star-Telegram

The voice on the phone came in loud and clear. Bob Hayes was obviously feeling much better. Physically and mentally, he's on the rise. Coming fast. With a Bullet.

“The only thing bothering me right now, and this may be hard to believe, but my legs are weak,” said Hayes from his Jacksonville, Fla., hospital room Friday.

Oh, no, not the legs, joked his caller. Bob, the legs are how you make your living.

“Well, I've gone from the world's fastest human to the world's slowest,” countered Hayes, 58. “I don't think I could outrun a sportswriter right now.”

Over a quarter-century after his final game in a Cowboys' uniform, Bob Hayes remains a mystical name in the football world. The NFL is a game of speed. The scouts of today are constantly consumed with that one area.

But there is speed, and then there was Bullet Bob. It's years later, and still no one forgets his kind of speed. “They always tell me I revolutionized the game of football,” Hayes said last week.

Laughing, he added, “I believe 'em, too.”

Hayes, of course, has needed fast feet. He's had to outrun much, some of it being his personal mistakes once the football glory ended.

Lately, however, health issues have become an immediate concern. Hayes underwent six weeks of radiation for prostate cancer, leading up to surgery 10 days ago. After the surgery there were worries about liver and kidney complications. But a rapid recovery has happened.

“Many people have been very worried about Bob,” said his sister, Lena Johnson, also of Jacksonville, Hayes' hometown. “But really, I never doubted everything would turn out just fine. Bob always has had a strong will. He never lost that. He's bounced back to be himself.”

There may be another positive from this recent illness. With Hayes' name in the news, local attention focused on a longtime sore subject — Hayes not being a member of the Texas Stadium Ring of Honor. Better yet, there was national commentary on Hayes not being in the NFL Hall of Fame.

“I didn't know people were bringing up those things again, but if they are, then that's good,” said Hayes, who has never hidden his disappointment about being excluded from both.

The Ring of Honor was conceived by former Cowboys president and general manager Tex Schramm, to this day a staunch backer of Hayes'. Schramm has said many times that Hayes would have been an original member of the ring if not for his conviction in the 1970s on drug charges, which brought prison time.

Obviously, Jerry Jones also has been hesitant to add Hayes for the same reason.

The good news, however, is that this may be changing. The guess — and it's just a guess — is that Jones plans to induct Hayes in the Ring of Honor during the 2001 season. And that was on the agenda before the recent news of his illness. If anything, Jones would now be worried about a misconception that the illness was the reason he decided to honor Hayes.

Jones didn't want to comment last week, after saying that he might alter his Ring of Honor timetable on Hayes because of the health issues. But at Cowboys' headquarters last week, there were many calls of support from former players asking Jones to consider Hayes for the ring. As early as 1995, however, Jones named Hayes an honorary captain for the league championship game that year, with Roger Staubach and Lee Roy Jordan being the only other former players so honored. It's not like Jones hasn't dropped hints that Hayes is one of his favorites among Cowboys' alums.

“Once he found out I was in the hospital, I got a big ol' vase of flowers from Jerry, and he also sent all this food over to my mother's home,” Hayes said. “I have always appreciated Jerry Jones. He's been real fair to me.

“I never forget where I came from in football. People here in Jacksonville, they are always asking me if I'm a Jaguars' fan. I tell 'em no. I'm a Cowboy. Always will be a Cowboy. I go to the Jaguars' games, but I'm still a Cowboy.”

Asked if he still thinks about eventually being included in the Ring of Honor and the Hall of Fame, Hayes answered, “About every day. Yes, it's still very important to me. I mean, 71 touchdown passes in your career still the Cowboys' record. Average 20 yards a catch in your career also still the team record. That has to stand for something. I was playing with the most famous sports franchise in the world. It's kind of mind-boggling to me that I'm not in.”
To Hayes, the Ring of Honor means more than the NFL Hall of Fame.

“It's first things first,” he said. “How can you get to the Hall of Fame if you are not in the Ring of Honor right there in your back yard. It has been a long wait, but the honor of being in that ring, up there with so many of my old teammates — the wait wouldn't make it any less joyous for me. It's still my dream.”

Hayes' health is recovering. Fast. And before long, maybe a long-awaited dream will also be answered.