Woody Hayes was fired from OSU for this deed in 1978

[bluestateguy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmoIjMr1BZs

At the time the broadcasters scarcely noticed. But the next day he was gonzo,

[tkmorris]

1. Broadcasters scarcely notoced?

That is not the way I remember it. Of course you do have to consider that this was pre-internet, and even pre-ESPN. It took times for stuff like this to "go viral" so to speak. As I recall it though, for 1978, this was big news right from the moment it happened.

[elleng]

3. You're right, it was a big deal, EVEN pre-internet etc, and even I remember it!

(NOT an OSU fan!)
AND Bobby Knight.
http://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/people/k/knight_bob/knight.html

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. I was 8 years old and I remember the incident.

[unblock]

12. no, the announcers completely missed it. they later said they didn't have that view on in the booth

i would think you would ALWAYS have the actual BROADCASTED view on in the booth, but they said no, it was showing some statistics for them to tout or something like that.

i remember everyone in the room watching it on tv saying they were covering it up already!

the announcers never mentioned it, but it was all over the local news that night.

with the word "allegedly"! hoody wayes 'allegedly' hit a clemson player! as if there weren't millions of witnesses!

[yellowcanine]

21. There was a lot of criticism of the broadcasters at the time for not mentioning the Hayes slugging.

I remember screaming at the TV. He hit him! I could not believe it. I believe the explanation was that the play by play announcers did not have a clear view of the incident and did not see the same replays that showed it. I didn't really believe it at the time but am not sure. There were also questions as to why Woody was not immediately ejected from the game by the refs.

[Logical]

13. No it was not noticed.....

The on air broadcasters did not mention it that night. And got some flack the next day when the story went big. They denied hiding it and said they did not see it.

[XemaSab]

2. I watched the video

and it looked like not only did they not have instant replay, but the dude commentating missed what happened.

[CreekDog]

8. Wiki says back then replays were only visible to producers in New York

the guys calling the game couldn't see them and only heard what was on them second hand if at all.

[pacalo]

9. He missed it totally. At the 2:54 point where they're going over the replay,

the camera clearly showed Hayes grabbing Bauman's jersey. I don't see how the announcer (Keith Jackson?) could have missed that.

[BOHICA12]

11. He didn't ....

.... when they came back from commercial (remember it was a change of possession), the commentators were laughing about it. I remember that!!!

Bet the network phones lit up and they had to address it .... but they tried to protect "The Coach" prior to that.

[pacalo]

19. At the end, past the 5 minute mark, the announcer said that "an official had been grabbed".

I got the impression the coach was being protected, too, but then, how could that be when two camera views showed what happened very clearly. Another DUer pointed out that the producers only had access to replay videos & the announcers did not; the action was relayed by the producers to the announcers. Weird that the announcers wouldn't have access. Who knows.

[petronius]

20. I think the official being grabbed was the second penalty on Hayes, which was

off-camera as the teams lined up for Clemson's second play...

[pacalo]

24. Thanks for clarifying that.

:hi:

[WCGreen]

4. I was going to OSU at the time and was staying on campus over

Christmas break because they needed a skelton staff at the statehouse...

We were watching the game and went ape shit crazy when Woody socked the player...

[Hardrada]

5. I remember my dad (a coach) commenting on how crazy it was.

Woody Hayes was a big deal and Ohio and Coach Evashevski's Iowa team had mighty struggles to get the Rose Bowl slot! Fun times then in the Fifties but even then Hayes had a temper.

[Blue_Tires]

16. Years ago I read "Woody Hayes and the 100-yard War"

wonderful stuff...

I also saw a 70s BBC(?) documentary about Hayes and Ohio St. -- There was a slight tinge of snark as the presenter noted Hayes was the highest-paid person on a college campus...

[CreekDog]

7. Wiki says Hayes never apologized for hitting Bauman in the throat

that's incredibly dangerous. damn.

what an ass. his history reads like a rap sheet of violent outbursts.

[unblock]

10. he was not actually fired.

he was removed as head coach, but he remained on the faculty as a tenured professor of military history.

and they named a street after him.

[Hardrada]

22. And an athletic center too.

[Major Hogwash]

23. Do you know if he suffered from Alzheimer's Disease?

He flashed his quick temper when he was that old, I can't remember just how old he was in 1978 when that incident happened, but it seemed to indicate to me that he did suffer from it.
But, I never found out if he actually did.

[unblock]

25. i don't know but the temper and violence was hardly novel for him.

one national television against a player from an opposing team, yeah, that was novel.

but there were many, many stories about hoody wayes wailing on his players, very abusive, certainly emotional but also very physically abusive. those stories went way, way back, but he was such an icon and the players were so thrilled to be in such an elite athletic program with such a legendary coach that they never took a stand.

he may have had alzheimer's as well, but the what he really had was violent shithead's disease, and that predated any alzheimer's.

[Logical]

14. Hayes was an asshole and never apologized to the kid he punched in thev throat. Asshole!

[slor]

15. I met him once, as a freshman student at OSU...

and challenged him to try and stump me at WWII questions. The first two were insultingly easy, then he asked me who replaced Rommel as head of the Afrika Korps, to which I quickly responded "Hans-Jürgen von Arnim". He looked stunned that this young black kid could know this and respectfully shook my hand and walked away. Mind you I am not calling him a bigot, I am simply describing how I perceived it at the time.

In any event I did not follow sports much but I remember what he had done and he was still spoken of with such reverence by everyone that I met. I never understood that level of fanaticism.

[Blue_Tires]

18. funny you mention that

my dad was an amateur war historian and probably would have loved to give him the same challenge

[Fumesucker]

17. Who is Woody Hayes? n/t

[JNelson6563]

26. We here in MI always knew he was an asshole.

Of course there is the famous rivalry between Ohio & Michigan. Back in the 70's I remember a match up between the two. Big signs everywhere afterward that read: Goody, goody! Bo beat Woody!

Too bad Bo didn't punch him in the throat so he could see how it felt. Wood's pretty lucky that wasn't a kid of mine he hit like that.

Julie

[GreenTea]

27. Hayes' frustrated "deed" was hilarious-- Not sickening.