Name a Newport Beach resident and surfing pioneer who has participated on the field in three NFL Super Bowls:
Here’s one – Dr. Laird Hayes.
Since retiring as an Orange Coast College professor and soccer coach in 2011, Hayes’ Golden Years have produced enough memorable moments to beckon NFL Films, highlighted by The Call and The Hit.
In Super Bowl XLVI in 2012, Hayes, a side judge in the NFL for 23 years, with three Super Bowl rings, correctly called the most important and scrutinized play in the New York Giants’ game-winning drive against the New England Patriots on Mario Manningham’s sideline catch from quarterback Eli Manning.
With 3:46 left in the fourth quarter, Hayes ruled that Manningham had both feet down and controlled the ball at the 50-yard line before going out of bounds. New England Coach Bill Belichick threw a yellow challenge flag. “Bill Belichick had to challenge it, based on what was going on in the game,” Hayes said.
Whether Manningham completed the catch according to NFL rules was unclear to the naked eye. After watching the replay a few times, NBC analyst Chris Collinsworth conceded it was a successful 38-yard pass play, after the Giants began the drive at their 12-yard line.
Moments later, after referee John Parry reviewed the play and confirmed it was a catch, Hayes could breathe again.
The Giants continued their drive and eventually scored to take a 21-17 lead. With 57 seconds remaining, the Patriots got the ball back with only one timeout, having lost one when Belichick challenged the Manningham catch. Shortly thereafter, the Giants celebrated a Super Bowl win.
Hayes, who retired as an NFL side judge after the 2017 season, keeps an enlarged photo of The Call rolled up in a long cardboard box in his house closet.
The Hit came a few years later on the sideline, the result of a wild, on-field fight between Oakland Raiders wide receiver Michael Crabtree and Denver Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib. Many players were scrambling during the incident, including 335-pound Oakland guard Gabe Jackson, who accidentally plowed through Hayes like a paper banner.
“I got run over in the first half,” Hayes said. “It felt like a Mack truck hit me. I finished the game (and) took off the following week, worked Week 16 and took off Week 17 to get my other hip replaced (a planned operation with no association to The Hit). And that’s all she wrote. I got a career-ending injury severance (two years).”
Despite two hip replacement surgeries and two rotator cuff operations, Hayes, 71, remains physically active, serving as instructor of OCC’s Surfing & Ocean Safety class and playing golf to a 10 handicap at Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa. Hayes started OCC’s surf team in 1978 while working as the college’s Assistant Dean of Students, a role he filled from 1976 to ’85.
Hayes began officiating intramural basketball at Princeton, where he earned his undergraduate degree, and worked his way to junior varsity high school football and later to the Pac-10 Conference. The NFL hired him in 1995 as a side judge.
Hayes earned a master’s and doctorate in education at UCLA, making extra money as a model and actor, appearing once in a “Hawaii Five-O” episode and producing regular ads for Coppertone.
Richard Dunn, a longtime sportswriter, writes the Dunn Deal column regularly for The Orange County Register’s weekly, The Coastal Current North.
