Wayne Woodrow “Woody” Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was a college football coach who is best remembered for winning five national titles and 13 Big Ten championships in 28 years at Ohio State University. As head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Hayes led his teams to a 205-61-10 record (.761), including three national championships (1954, 1957 and 1968), 13 Big Ten conference championships, and four of the team's eight Rose Bowl appearances. Hayes considered the "greatest victory" of his career the 42-21 win over the University of Southern California during the 1974 Rose Bowl. Three-time winner of the The College Football Coach of the Year Award, Hayes was "the subject of more varied and colorful anecdotal material than any other coach past or present," according to biographer Jerry Brondfield. During his tenure at Ohio State, Hayes considered himself to be Notre Dame's best recruiter. Woody refused to play Notre Dame because he was afraid of polarizing the Catholic population in Ohio. Because the Irish and Buckeyes didn't play each other, Hayes would make every effort to sell a potential recruit on Notre Dame if he was unable to land him, rather than face the prospect of having the player go to Michigan, referred to by Hayes as "that school up north." Hayes' lifetime record of 238-72-10 places him ninth in all-time NCAA Division I-A coaching victories. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983. At Hayes' funeral on March 17, 1987, former President Richard Nixon delivered the eulogy before a crowd of 1,400 acknowledging the friendship that had begun during his second term as vice president. Having met Hayes at a reception following a Buckeye win over Iowa in 1957, Nixon recalled, "I wanted to talk about football and Woody wanted to talk about foreign policy. And you know Woody. We talked about foreign policy." The following day, more than 15,000 people took part in a memorial service at Ohio Stadium. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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