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GREENSBORO — Bill Hayes is one of us. And he always has been.

Even when he was over there at Winstson-Salem State, the hated Rams who made life miserable for our Aggies all those years ago. And even before that when he was at Wake Forest during the dark years when Chuck Mills tried to drag Wake from the shadows of football and into something resembling, well, football.

Hayes was building even then, watching what went on around him with those Eagle eyes. Yes, N.C. Central Eagle eyes. He was one of those before he was one of us, after he was one of us and even now that he's so far away.

Tonight, in a ceremony fitting a man coming home, Hayes will be one of nine people who will be inducted into the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame. The former N.C. A&T football coach, the winningest football Aggie of them all, will be enshrined alongside some of the most successful people in the history of Guilford County sports.

Haywood Jeffires, who played basketball and football at Page High School before going to N.C. State and the NFL, will go in with Nelson Bobb, the former athletics director at UNCG. Dick Culler, a former pro baseball player who played three sports at High Point College, will go in with Johnny Evans, a standout at High Point Andrews and N.C. State.

Allen Morris, the former tennis coach at UNC, will be inducted with Sammy Johnson, a UNC football star who played at High Point Central and the NFL. Doug Henderson, the retired football and track coach at Western Guilford, will be enshrined with Siri Mullinix, a Ragsdale soccer player who became national champion at Carolina and an Olympian afterward.

The fifth class of the Hall is one of the most interesting, one that spans generations and sports and backgrounds and histories. Hayes has spanned his own history and that of the Triad. And though every stop along the way was successful, every one began in tatters.

"Every time I stepped into something, it seemed it was torn all to pieces," he said. "When I was at Wake with Mills, well ... "

His voice trailed off. It was that bad. Hayes left with his head up, though. Wake had nowhere to go but up.

"At Winston-Salem State, they didn't know what winning a football game was," he said. "We got that straightened out. Then I went to A&T. We didn't even have a uniform. We didn't have socks, jocks or shoes, no field house, nothing. Same thing at Central. They hadn't won a football championship in 20 years, and here at FAMU the football program was upside-down."

Every step of the way, things got better. Hayes, now 64, is considering making one more move. There's a job at WSSU with his name on it, but you never know how these things turn out. Who would have ever thought A&T would let him go? Hayes surely never did.

"One day you think the world is coming to an end," he said. "I certainly did. You think everything you ever loved and lived for is gone. That was how I felt. It's funny how things work out, though. Now, I'm not a Holy Roller guy, but I believe in God, and I believe he has a plan for me. There is somebody looking out for me, because ever since I left Greensboro, my life has gotten better and better."

He's lived the life of a journeyman, like any football coach. He missed his kids growing up, and he doesn't want to miss out on his grandkids now. Hayes is a highly successful coach and administrator. He's way down in Tallahasse now, at FAMU, a football factory he had to help rebuild, as he'd done many times before.

For years, that meant getting up at 4:30 in the morning and working into the night so WSSU and A&T could have football programs they could be proud of. He went from one rival to the other, eventually going to his alma mater in Durham and then to the best football program in HBCU history at Florida A&M. Of course, he had to start rebuilding as soon as he got there, and the long days started again.

"I'd be up before the sun and work until 10:30 or 11 at night," Hayes said. "Somehow, that became normal. You think that's what people do. I had no idea what people did. I didn't know anything about life around football until I got to Central. I didn't know about social events before and after the games. Tailgating, homecoming, I was oblivious to how much fun people really have at a football game."

Hayes wouldn't mind a homecoming he could appreciate. But he's not one to assume anything. Hayes will come home again, he just doesn't know when.

Tonight, we'll welcome him back for a few hours and listen to him tell stories alongside the other inductees.

This is a special night for special people, and he's one of our favorites. When he first got to Greensboro all those years ago, and he looked around and realized the players couldn't even put a uniform together, he went to business leaders and reasoned with them on their level.

"Look, he said. "A man can't do business in this town without a blue suit."

And that's where A&T's blue uniforms come from. It was a simple idea from a man who likes to keep things simple. He never put himself above us, even from rival perches. He watched it all and made it better. He was one of us even then.

Bill Hayes will finally get a homecoming tonight. Here's hoping he gets to come home for good.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com