Bob Hayes’ Biographies Don’t Mention Lucille Hester

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The best news of Super Bowl weekend for the Cowboys was that receiver Bob Hayes was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame. The story had an even more touching moment when Hayes’ sister, Lucille Hester, read a letter that Hayes wrote in October 1999, thanking nearly everyone for his induction.

Two days later, the story turned sour, Dallas Cowboys-style. There are a bunch of stories out there, including:

Ted McIntosh, Hayes’ former business manager, appeared on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. Speaking on behalf of family members, he disputed that Hester is really Hayes’ sister.

Mike Fisher of Dallas Basketball and Richie Whitt of the Dallas Observer followed up, finding a bunch of discrepancies in Hester’s story. One of the most damaging parts of her account is that the signature the appears on the 10-year-old letter (described as “crisp”) looks nothing like Hayes’ authentic signature.

Hester appeared on Michael Irvin’s radio show (listen below) and claimed that she and Hayes shared the same father.

The Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram followed up with stories today.

Hester said today in a letter sent from her attorney she and Hayes were half-siblings, sharing the same father (George Sanders). There will probably be more to this story, and everything stated above has been covered elsewhere.

I should probably leave this one alone, but there are parts of this story that make no sense at all. According to one of Jean-Jacques Taylor’s blog entries, Hester claims to have travelled to Tokyo to see Hayes race in the 1964 Olympics, to Green Bay to watch the Ice Bowl, and apparently to all but three Super Bowls. Presumably, this would include a trip to Miami for Super Bowl V and New Orleans for Super Bowl VI, since Hayes played in those games.

1971 Biography: The Speed King

In 1971, after Dallas had lost Super Bowl V, Hayes was the feature of a biography entitled The Speed King: Bob Hayes of the Dallas Cowboys by David Lipman and Ed Wilks. The book (183 pages) is certainly above the level of a children’s book and provides quite a few details of Hayes’ childhood. According to the book, he grew up in a very poor neighborhood in Jacksonville called the Bottoms and grew up with brother Ernest and sister Lena Mae. It mentions that Hayes’ father’s name was George and that his parents separated when Bob was nine years old. After the separation, Bob’s uncle and aunt lived with the family for a while. Bob’s mother mentions that Bob was lazy as a boy, paying sister Lena Mae dimes to wash dishes for him. The book also mentions childhood friends Charles Grover and Charles Sutton.

This biography thus has some stories of mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, and two friends, but no mention of Lucille at all. This book was written just three years after the Ice Bowl, which Lucille claims she attended to watch her brother, but Hayes and the others make no mention of her.

1990 Autobiography: Run, Bullet, Run

After Hayes’ career ended, he made some mistakes. He was convicted for selling cocaine and spent time in prison. He struggled for the remainder of his life, especially financially. In 1990, he wrote an autobiography (along with Robert Pack) entitled, Run, Bullet, Run: The Rise, Fall, and Recovery of Bob Hayes. The book features a detailed account of his trip to Tokyo for the 1964 Olympics, where he established himself as the world’s fastest human. He also details how he paid for his mother’s flight, marking the first time she flew in an airplane. She flew from Florida to Los Angeles with ten suitcases, but she had to consolidate her belongings because she was only allowed to bring three suitcases on the flight. Teammate Ralph Boston’s girlfriend, Mary Thompson, helped Hayes’ mother during the stopover.

Hayes notes that after the race, he had dinner with his mother. He also noted that his “mom made out fine, too. She came back to the United States loaded down with televisions, watches, and all sorts of clothing people gave her in Tokyo.”

So, this account refers to Bob’s mother’s trip to Tokyo, all of his teammates, and Ralph Boston’s girlfriend. But there is not one mention of “sister” Lucille travelling to Tokyo to watch him race, even though she claims to have gone.

Problems with the 1999 Letter

Taylor posted the contents of the letter Hester read on January 31. The letter is dated October 29, 1999, which means it was written about three years before his death. This letter anticipates that he might be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame sometime after his death, and in the letter, he thanks the Dallas Cowboys, Roger Staubach, and just about everyone else.

Some have noticed that the actual letter misspells Staubach as “Stauback.”

What is more troubling to me is this phrase: “You know I am not sure I am going to be around if I get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame . . . .” Hayes would have written this letter two years before he was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor. The man who had the foresight to write such a letter thanks the club that had not yet inducted him into its own hall of fame? This makes absolutely no sense, but Hayes purportedly writes:

“I would like to thank everyone who supported me to get into the NFL Hall of Fame, the Dallas Cowboys organization, all of my team mates (sic) and everyone who played for the Cowboys, (thank the San Francisco 49ers too).”

Nine years earlier in his autobiography, his story was a little bit different:

It hurts me that although they named me the fastest runner in history a couple of years ago in England, I’ve never even been named to the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor in Dallas. When I signed with the Cowboys, I carried their name around the world, because I was the only world-famous athlete in professional football . . . .

Health Trouble in 2001

Hayes nearly died in March 2001 due to complications with prostate cancer. Taylor, then a reporter, quoted Lena Mae Johnson about Hayes’ condition. Taylor also quoted Johnson when Hayes’ health improved.

“He’s improving quite a bit,” she said. “He’s doing much better. The doctors are real happy considering how sick he was four days ago.”

Johnson said any notes or cards to Hayes should be sent to: Bob Hayes , 4305 Detaille Dr., Jacksonville, Fla. 32209. - Jean-Jacques Taylor (March 7, 2001).

Several stories in 2001 focused on Hayes, especially once the Cowboys inducted him into the Ring of Honor. The great columnist Frank Luska prematurely wrote an obitutary about Hayes in March and then wrote another column in September, noting:

Hayes said he owed much to many. To family - brother, sister, niece and 82-year-old mother - who kept a 24-hour bedside vigil during his crisis.

The stories referred to mother, sister Lena Mae, brother Ernest, son Bob Jr. But not one of those stories mentioned Lucille Hester as Hayes’ older sister. In fact, as Whitt noted yesterday, the Dallas Morning News obituary of Hayes makes no mention of Lucille as Hayes’ sister (though a Jacksonville newspaper apparently did).

So What Does This Mean?

McIntosh said that Hester did not become a major part of Hayes’ life until just before or after Hayes’ death in 2002. The evidence supports this claim. The name Lucille Hester never arose in any of the stories about Hayes during his life, even when many other family names were included in those stories. Her name first appeared in the Dallas Morning News in 2006, when reporter Matt Mosley noted that Hester sent a message to Rayfield Wright, who was elected to the Hall that year. Taylor wrote a lengthy article in 2007 about Hester’s efforts to erect a headstone for Hayes’ grave and to get Hayes elected into Canton. Maybe this shows she has the heart of a good sister, but this all came long after Hayes had died.

We may know more after Bob Hayes Jr. travels to Hawaii to meet “Aunt Lucille” this week.

It also turns out, as Whitt reports, that Hester runs a non-profit foundation bearing Hayes’ name.

The bottom line, therefore, is that the Cowboys can’t put someone in the Hall of Fame without enduring a soap opera in the process!

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