European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 03, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday october 1985 the stars and stripes Page 19 commentary Hayes sees j 2-4 Mark in raiders future the raiders didst realize it at the time but they were getting a Good Deal More than a football player when they were signing the right honorable Lester Hayes Esq. Lester you see sees into the future. Of he s not nostradamus or canc Dixon. Hayes stops Well Short of world wars but he s very Good at super bowls. He can t Tell you who Elizabeth Taylor is going to marry next but he can predict a quarterback s move to a fixed certainty and foretell exactly How Many Yards any Given fullback will make Over tackle. Hayes does t have to turn out the lights and rap on any tables to get his visions he Only has to close his eyes and turn Down the stereo. Of course there Are doubters. It pains him to think there Are people like that abroad in the world but it must be remembered that Joan of arc had her de tractors too. If Hayes had been around he might very Well have spared the titanic the necessity of that fatal sail or at least persuaded management to put on More lifeboats. It s a gift i be had since i was a Little child Hayes assures lest anyone think it s something he dreamed up to make the pages of the National enquirer. Strictly speaking Lester says he never was a child. He was born old and so now in the full Powers of his Wisdom and knowledge he May be anything from 28 to 200. People who can strip the veil from the future do not trouble themselves with calendars. Hayet did predict a National calamity of a sort. It was not to be compared with nostradamus prediction of the san Francisco fire or the fall of Rome but Lester did see clearly the collapse of Washington in the Winter of 84. He might have missed watergate 10 years earlier but he was right on top of the redskins collapse. He predicted their demise almost to a t. Or at least a to. H is prognosticate a score of 40-10, raiders on the eve of super bowl xviii in Tampa. The score in Case you be forgotten was 38-9. Hayes visions have a margin of three Points for error which is pretty Good when you figure that nostradamus did t always guarantee the right Century for his. I a Alt prophets Lester was tight in the essentials. I am blessed he says modestly. In 197s, i discovered i have this Power of Clai Rovancy. I was on the Texas am team and we were going to play this Texas team which had or. Earl Campbell in the Back Field. Or. Campbell had been in the habit of gaining 150-175 Yards a game but i he j this insight and i a photo . Ralder Lester haves. Helps predictions come True made the simple statement that or. Earl Campbell would gain Only 20-25 one of the things the Swami Hayes can do that other seers can to is get in on the prophecy fulfilling himself. Nostradamus in the 16th Century had mini Mal control Over what might happen to his predictions a millennium hence but Hayes was not Only on the scene he played an Active role in the carrying out of his predictions the Texas am team that stopped Earl Campbell for in since played a nine Man front in that game and Hayes a linebacker was part of the nine. We stuffed him Hayes recall Wilh some satisfaction. Campbell gained 24 Yards As he recalls it. Lester s occult Powers occasionally Short out head mits. When he was drafted by the raiders and they decided to change him into a cornerback Hayes had Only visions of failure. He had a Clear insight into the frailties of coaches. In High school i was a 4.4 runner in the 40 Yards and 1 was a pulling guard a pulling guard mind you b Locking for Ball carriers who could t run 4.7," he said. Let s say the coach was no Bill when John Madden then the Raider coach wanted to make Hayes a cornerback Lester thought Madden was no Bill Walsh either. I thought 1 would be on the firs 747 Back to Texas he said. "1 was learning the fourth new position in five years. The possibilities were fraught with Lester talks like that. Instead Hayes came to enjoy the position immensely. For one thing it gave full Range to his aggressive instincts which in those Days were considerable. We did t have the five Yard one bump Rule on wide receivers he recalled cheered by the memory. A defensive Back in those Days could do everything to you that a Park mugger or nightclub bouncer could do. The idea was to gel him to take alternate routes Hayes said. "1 was the Larry Holmes of the defensive the league later restricted the degree of legalized mayhem that could be practice on pass receivers so Hayes turned his attention from Strong Arm robbery of the football to More Subtle forms of thievery. He began to gel the Footfall by stealth like a cat burglar or an International jewel thief. He stole 13 passes in 1980, and has 33 interceptions to show for his nine year career. They began to perceive me As a very dangerous criminal he said with some satisfaction. Intimidation was my Forte. The fear Factor was a part of my Arsenal. I tended to materialize around the added Lester Don t misunderstand me. Without that front seven playing in front of you you Are not going to gel to ply your Trade. You could get four Guys who could All run 4.1 s and catch a Ball in the dark but if you have an inferior defensive line in front of them their destiny will be the California stale Hospital. There is a great Deal of mental stress where the pass Rush Hayes faculty for Clairvoyance does not extend to what will happen in the Middle East when it. St. Helens will blow again or who will win the demo cratic nomination in 1988. Even the super bowl has not yet come into focus. But the raiders Are another matter. Lester has them on screen. The raiders will be 12 and 4," he forecasts. Then he adds if they stay somehow that sounds More like a football coach than Madame Latonga. After All the Guys who predicted that Germany would win the War had that hedge. Loi of loom to twi wants to talk football not polls Fry ruffled by Ricky Dink questions a Iyda Fry. Credits staffs recruiting Iowa City Iowa a Iowa s Hayden Fry has his first no. 1-ranked team after 24 years As a head coach but he remained True to form insisting he d rather talk football than polls. I am not prepared to defend our rank ing i m not prepared to defend our sched ule i m not prepared to answer a Bunch of questions that i Don t consider important so if you want to talk about football. I m Here Fry told reporters tuesday. In the one Day since Iowa jumped from no. 3 to no. 1 in the associated press poll Fry said he has had i feathers ruffled by Ricky Dink but while refusing to answer reporters question on the poll. Fry did Volunteer Sev eral defences to his would be critics. The Iowa admitted the three teams the Hawk eyes have beaten by a combined score of 163-23 this year Drake. North Ern Illinois and Iowa state Aren t world but he noted other teams have risen in the polls the same Way. I go Back and Loon at people who have won conference championships and National championships and their schedule is just dotted with people like we be been playing Fry said. This is not anything Iowa originally had planned to open its season against Miami of Florida Ana Kan Sas hut those two teams pulled off the Hawk eyes schedule so Drake and Northern Illinois were substituted. Instead of apologizing for the two games against division i a opponents. Fry called t a very very fortunate switch for his team. It s almost impossible to play three Quality bal clubs like Michigan played without getting people Hurt. It s just the Law of averages he said. The biggest Joy to me As a coach is keeping people healthy. I Don t like to see those youngsters Hurt. The second Joy is to see them healthy and Fry said his team will begin big ten conference play on saturday with Only a handful of injured players. His coaching staffs recruiting had More to do with Iowa s Success than the schedule he said. I really feel in my heart and mind that the greatest thing we do As coaches Here is recruit class people and then try to help them improve on that Fry said. We want them to be gentlemen we want them to be As Fine students As they could possibly be. We Don t want them breaking rules we just Don t tolerate it. I think that s the secret of our Success he added. It s just really working with Quality Young men who Are not going to give up in the fourth Quarter or loaf. I think that s the but is Iowa really the Best College foot Ball team in the nation Fry said he does know. I honestly Don t know so it would be foolish for me to get into who is really no. 1 or 2," he said. Later in the season i la be Happy to discuss what i feet. But 1 Don t know right
