Dillon’s Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Jackie Hayes was one of seven coaches inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame at the 20th Annual Awards Banquet on Sunday, July 22, at the TD Convention Center in Greenville, South Carolina.

Hayes has been the head football coach and athletic director for Dillon High School for 20 years. He has led the Wildcats to six state finals and won back-to-back state championships in 2008 and 2009. The 2008 win over Central was Dillon’s first state football title since 1947. In 2010, the Wildcats made a return trip to the state final, but fell to Central. Last season he led the Wildcats to the Lower State game, but fell to Timberland.

In August of 2010, Hayes made history as the youngest coach in South Carolina history to reach 200 wins. At the time, only 20 other coaches had ever accomplished such a feat. Coach Hayes said then that he had been very fortunate to coach for Dillon and blessed with a great coaching staff.
Hayes’s history at Dillon began when he was a standout quarterback under another legendary coach, Paul Chapman. After graduating from Catawba College in 1984, Hayes returned to Dillon to coach the junior varsity football team. Then in 1992, at the age of 29, Dillon hired him as the head varsity football coach and Athletic Director.

The two previous years had ended with a dismal 1-22 record, but Hayes immediately began to turn the program around, finishing his first season as head coach with an 8-4 record. Hayes now has a 225-47 record heading into the 2012 season.

In his 20 years of coaching, Hayes has earned numerous awards and honors. In 1993, he was named the SC Turnaround Coach of the Year. He was the President of the South Carolina Athletic Administrative Association from 1998 to 1999. In 2002, he was named Region Coach of the Year, and in 2008, the High School Sports Report named him the Statewide Coach of the Year. In December 2010, he was named the Carolina Panthers High School Coach of the Week, and on February 20, 2011, he was honored at the HSSR’s Fall Sports Banquet as the Fastest Coach to Achieve 200 Wins.

In addition to his work on the field with the Wildcats, Hayes ran for office in 1998 and was elected to the House of Representatives for District 55. He was named Legislator of the Year in 2000 by the Rural Water Association and again in 2008 by Farm Bureau. He serves on the Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee.

Hayes is the son of Julius and Virgie Hayes and was born in Marion in 1961. He married Vera Amanda McLellan in 1985, and they have three children: Zach, Shuler, and Ellie. Both Zach and Shuler played for the Wildcats in their 2008 state championship win.

Hayes and the Wildcats will return to the field for their first scrimmage game on August 10 in the Dennis Miller Jamboree of Champions at Marlboro County’s McAlpine Stadium. Dillon is scheduled to take on Hartsville in the eight-team jamboree.

Hayes said Dillon’s number one goal is to get back to the state championship. He added that he thinks Dillon has the talent and the opportunity to make another title run this season.

The awards banquet on Sunday kicked off the SCACA Coaches Clinic, which runs through Wednesday and features speakers such as the University of South Carolina’s basketball coach Rank Martin, the University of North Carolina’s football coach Larry Fedora, and track legend Jim Ryun.

The other 2012 Hall of Fame inductees were:

• Edward A. “Ed” Boehmke, Head Cross Country Coach at Eastside High School for 33 years;

• Carroll E. Emery, Head Baseball Coach at T.L. Hanna High School for 38 years;

• William Hosea, Head Boys Soccer Coach at Riverside High for 25 years and J.L. Mann High for 12 years;

• Robert B. Jameson, Head Basketball Coach at Pendleton, Crescent, Abbeville, and Calhoun Falls for 33 years and athletic director at Crescent and Abbeville;

• Anne Long, Head Basketball Coach at Wilson, Boiling Springs, Union, Lower Richland, Dutch Fork, and Spring Valley High for 35 years; and

• Ted Luckadoo, Head Football Coach and Athletic Director at Westside High for 28 years.

Dillon High School’s Football Record Under Head Coach Jackie Hayes

1992, 8-4
1993, 11-2
1994, 11-4
1995, 10-3
1996, 10-3
1997, 11-2
1998, 10-3
1999, 13-2 (State Runner-Up)
2000, 8-4
2001, 12-1
2002, 11-3
2003, 13-1
2004, 14-1 (State Runner-Up)
2005, 11-3
2006, 11-2
2007, 10-2
2008, 12-3 (State Championship)
2009, 13-2 (State Championship)
2010, 14-1 (State Runner-Up)
2011, 12-1