Earl C. “Billy” Hayes, USTFCCCA Special Inductee

Earl C. “Billy” Hayes coached the Indiana University cross country and track & field teams from 1924 until his retirement in 1943, winning numerous Big Ten and NCAA titles in the process.

Hayes’s cross country teams went from Big Ten doormats to perennial title contenders, winning eight Big Ten cross country titles during his career, including a stretch of six straight from 1928-33. From 1928 until Hayes’s retirement, his teams never finished worse than second. His teams also won three NCAA cross country titles (1938, 1940, and 1942) during his career, as well as five Big Ten track titles and the 1932 NCAA outdoor title.

Hayes coached four world record holders and seven Olympians: Roy Cochran, Tom Deckard, Ivan Fuqua, Chuck Hornbostel, Don Lash, and fellow USTFCCCA Hall of Famer Fred Wilt; others, such as Archie Harris and Campbell Kane, were National AAU champions. Hayes also coached fellow USTFCCCA Hall of Famers M.E. “Bill” Easton and Bob Timmons.

From 1931-33, Hayes also served as head football coach at Indiana, and he was an assistant coach on the 1936 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team.

Hayes was one of the founders of the U.S. Cross Country Coaches Association and was instrumental in organizing the first NCAA Cross Country Championships in 1938. The trophy presented to the winner of the NCAA Cross Country Championships is named in honor of his achievements. He is recognized for his accomplishments in the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame, the Drake Relays Hall of Fame, and the USATF Hall of Fame. The track at Indiana is named in his honor.