HOFame: Judging the Judge

The Judge. Lester the Molester. These are names that football fans know refer to Lester Hayes. They know this because, during a career in which he was a key in winning two Super Bowls, Hayes gave us one of the most spectacular single-season displays of football ability in league history.

As we consider Hayes’ credentials for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025, he is not new to the selectors. He was a semifinalist eight times and a finalist four. He made his mark in pro football in a dramatic fashion that should not only help him into the Hall of Fame but exceeds some of the most respected achievements in NFL history.

We talk with Reverance about running backs with 2,000-yard seasons. We deify quarterbacks who have 5,000-yard seasons passing. After all, those are extraordinary feats.

However, we have seen eight 2,000-yard rushers. And we have seen 5,000-yard passing seasons 10 times by six quarterbacks, with Drew Brees doing it four times (see chart below).

But in the 72 years since Hall of Fame cornerback Dick “Night Train” Lane set the single-season record of 14 interceptions (in 12 games), only one player has managed as many as 13 in a season, and that was Hayes 44 years ago.

Even while passing proliferated as the primary mode of offense, no defender has come close this century, with only two single-season double-digit interceptors in the past 16 years (see chart below).

Though often mentioned, his remarkable 1980 season of thievery is rarely put in full and proper focus. Those 13 interceptions in 14 regular season games were meaningful in helping the Oakland Raiders become the first wild-card team to win a Super Bowl. When it counted most, Hayes came up big. He had five ADDITIONAL interceptions in the playoffs. That makes 18 in one season/post-season — more than anybody else, ever.

But wait, there’s more, unofficially, anyway. Hayes intercepted five more passes in 1980 that were nullified because of penalties, three of them not on him. For those taking unofficial personal notes, that’s 21 interceptions.

In 13 career playoff games, Hayes had eight interceptions. That is playing big in big games.

Hayes was named the NFL’s 1980 Defensive Player of the Year, earned five first or second All-Pro honors, and made the All-Decade team of the 1980s. Those are credentials worthy of the Hall of Fame.

Although he sustained a foot injury early in 1981, Hayes continued to play effectively and teamed with Hall of Famer Mike Haynes to become arguably the best cornerback tandem in NFL history. They were crucial to shutting down the record-setting Washington Football Team’s offense in an 38-9 upset win in Super Bowl XVIII.

 

More on Lester’s life and football feats later. First, let’s look at a graphical representation of how his accomplishment fits in NFL history:

🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈

NOTABLE NFL STATISTICAL MILESTONES

Eight rushers with at least 2,000 yards in a season

 

Ten 5,000-yard seasons passing by six quarterbacks

 

Three DBs with 13 INTS; only one — Lester Hayes — since Night Train Lane stole 14 to set the record 72 years ago

 

Subscribe now

🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈

Lester Craig Hayes was born on January 22, 1955, in Houston.

Hayes grew up in the Fifth Ward (nicknamed the “Nickel”) area of Houston, and to put it mildly, his neighborhood was a training ground for survival.

“It was a very tough neighborhood, but the mentality I grew up with, we didn’t understand what poor was,” Hayes said. “I remember games where we played football, 70 guys against 70 guys. I would say most guys had a blackjack in their socks, or a knife in their pocket or a gun in their underwear. I’ve seen guys get shot before football games.”

He grew up loving sports and excelled in track, basketball, and, of course, football. In youth football, he played defensive end.

“I was a defensive lineman, the No. 1 lineman in Houston at E.O. Smith Junior High School.” he said. The word is that he had 27 sacks, though no official stats exist. “I was a pancaker! I used to pancake men. I was a legalized butt whipper!”

At Wheatley High, he played primarily defensive end. Former Texas A&M coach Emory Bellard went to a Wheatley game to look at two other players.

“Before the game was over, I said, ‘Forget about those other two players, look at that defensive end.’” Bellard said. “Lester was flying all over the field. And he was flying. Not doing sound-type things, but exceptional things. Chasing down plays from far behind. And when we got to looking at the films, he was doing it every week.”

So, almost by accident, A&M found an All-American. But, in a scene that would be repeated, Hayes was moved to linebacker, then safety. He literally cried when moved to safety. But that wasn’t the last move of his career.

In 1977, on the first day of practice with the Oakland Raiders, Coach John Madden had news for Hayes.

"You run a 4.3 40-yard dash. You're going to play cornerback." Madden said.

“I turned into a newborn baby!” Hayes said. “I cried on the football field on the first day of Raiders practice! I couldn't believe it. I was a safety. I was a super stud and I knew it. I wanted to play safety. I had tears coming down my face. Coach Madden is looking down on me and he said, ‘You have great speed. You can play corner.’ “

"I was pleading, Coach, please don't make me play corner!" Hayes continued. “I believed in Coach Madden, but first I tried Plan B: go to Mr. Al Davis. I was begging with Mr. Davis to please let me play safety! I eventually bought into it.”

And that’s the back story on the reluctant cornerback’s evolution from defensive end to linebacker to safety before becoming a cornerback for the first time as a Raiders rookie.

 

🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈

The Raiders’ reluctant cornerback used his acquired football knowledge as a defensive end, linebacker, and safety. He became a throwback to the Raiders' bump-and-run glory days, but he was more physical. He would get into his well-known low stance and explode. He would butt his helmet into the chests of opposing receivers so hard that, according to Hall-of-Fame receiver James Lofton, "It would knock the wind out of you."

But his ability extended far beyond physical play — so much so that Burgess Owens, another Raiders' safety, extolled Hayes when asked about him back in the ‘80s.

"Lester," he said, "plays the position better than anyone in the game. He may become the best of all time."

Respected Hall of Fame cornerback Mike Haynes was astonished at what he learned about Hayes after joining the Raiders in 1983, forming arguably the best cornerback tandem in NFL history. Haynes realized that Hayes’ experience at all those positions since youth football gave him an incomparable understanding of the game.

Haynes on Hayes:

“I have no idea what, the guys who have the votes … what is keeping them from getting Lester in the Hall of Fame as well? People don't know, like, maybe it's because of guys like me who played the position are not talking to them.

When I joined the Raiders, I had made Pro Bowls and all those kinds of things, so people probably expected me to play great, and I did, but they didn't know that, if Lester wasn't on my team, I doubt that it would have happened the way it did. We would sit down and study film together, and he would be looking at stuff. And fortunately, for me, I didn't just sit there and look at the film with him.

I would ask him questions, and he would give me answers like … I could not believe. He would say, ‘Oh, every time it's on third-and-eight and the ball's over there, they always do this.’ I'm going, huh? How did you … how did he know that? And he was right.

And so, a lot of times when we're in the huddle, I'd look at him, I'm going, ‘Judge, what do you think? ‘And he goes, ‘watch out for this.’ And he would say something. He would be right. So, his knowledge of the game was tremendous.

And so, I actually started thinking, ‘Gosh, how does he know so much more than me, you know?’ And then I find out he started playing football at a young age. He played lineman, he played linebacker, he played, you know, all these different positions. And so, he had a lot of knowledge and a lot of talent with his speed, his strength. He was awesome. He really was, and I really am shocked that he has not gotten the credit that he deserves. And if the players were voting, he would have been in a long time ago.”

Ron Jaworski, who played from 1974 to 1989, explains whey quarterbacks disliked Hayes:

“Well, I think whenever you look at great corners, you look at instincts. And Lester Hayes had incredible instincts, in preparation, whenever you played the Raiders, those are the guys you're watching. …

And you can study all you want, you can prepare all you want, you can have the right play called all you want ... But guys like that drove me crazy because they just would perform differently. They would guess. They were instinctive. They would read routes. They read what we called a triangle back to the quarterback, to the wide receiver.

They were really good, and they would kind of go unscripted and make plays. And Lester Hayes was one of those guys. You better know where he was — lying inside, outside, tighter, tighter to the wide receiver, off the wide receivers — because that was a tell. They're always tells with Lester Hayes. But the one thing you wouldn't know is when the ball was snapped, what he was going to do. He was a very aggressive player. “

From the perspective of wide receiver Ahmad Rashad:

“Lester Hayes was the best cornerback I ever played against my entire career. He was big. He was strong. He was fast, really fast, and he talked a load of crap. “

And wide receiver Harold Jackson:

“I played against Lester, and he done studied the film so much that when he’d bump and run and hit you, he’ll back out like he was running your route for you. So, when you get there, you’d say, “How do you know where I’m going?” 

🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈

Now for the elephant in the room: Stickum.

After the 1980 season, the NFL league office received enough complaints about Hayes’ Stickum use that the league banned the substance.

In fact, the NFL named the new rule after Hayes.

Rule 5.4.4.8 says, “The Lester Hayes Rule”— Adhesive, Slippery Substances. Adhesive or slippery substances on the body, equipment, or uniform of any player; provided, however, that players may wear gloves with a tackified surface if such tacky substance does not adhere to the football or otherwise cause handling problems for players.”

The ruling meant Hayes could no longer stick to his man. He had to do it the old-fashioned way. Opponents soon realized that Hayes was a natural and that Stickum didn’t have much to do with his success. In 1981 and 1982, he totaled five picks and was voted to the Pro Bowl both years.

Hayes admitted that the lack of stickum bothered him, but not as much as an ankle/foot injury that worsened through his career and eventually forced retirement in 1986. He finished with 39 career interceptions in ten years, tied for the franchise record with Willie Brown, who was with the Raiders for 12 years.

Some believe Hayes has not yet made the Hall of Fame because of his infamous use of Stickum.

“That’s ridiculous. Stickum didn’t make Lester Hayes a great cornerback; it was his natural ability,” said former Raiders wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff, who introduced Hayes to Stickum and himself made it into the Hall of Fame despite his well-known use of the substance.

Now, about those tackified gloves mentioned in the NFL rule.

“I used both at different times, and the gloves are every bit as advantageous as the stickum,” said Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice. “Why do you think all these receivers make one-handed catches à la Odell Beckham Jr.? Those gloves are amazing. If stickum is what is keeping Lester Hayes out of the Hall of Fame, well that’s just silly. Lester Hayes was a great cornerback.”

As far as experts are concerned, Jerry Rice is as good as it gets.

🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈

Here is chart of annual interception leaders since Dick Night Train Lane set the record of 14 in 1952.

This shows that in the 72 years since Night Train Lane set the record of 14 interceptions in a season, 121 players have led or tied for the season lead, and only 1 had as many as 13 interceptions — Lester Hayes

 

The Hall of Football is not affiliated with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Opinions expressed are those of the Hall of Football (HallofFootball.substack.com)