The Hayes Days

Rockets.com recently caught up with Elvin Hayes, a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Hayes, who resides in Houston, is currently involved in the day-to-day operations of the two automobile dealerships he owns in the Houston area. Hayes discussed his memories from his collegiate and professional playing days as well as his feelings on the direction of the current Rockets team.

Elvin Hayes talks with San Diego Rockets owner Robert Breitbard after Hayes was selected by the Rockets with the No. 1 pick in the 1968 NBA Draft. (Photo provided by Houston Rockets)

To Elvin Hayes, basketball was born on the night of January 20, 1968. That was the evening more than 50,000 college basketball fans crammed into Houston's Astrodome to witness Hayes' No. 2 Houston Cougars take on top-ranked UCLA in what would turn out to be one of the greatest games in college basketball history. The game, featuring two unbeaten teams and college basketball's two best players, Hayes and Lew Alcindor (who later became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), was broadcast live to a national television audience. Hayes dropped 39 points and 15 rebounds on UCLA and Alcindor, as the Cougars escaped with a 71-69 upset of the Bruins, ending UCLA's 47-game winning streak. But what made this night special to Hayes was the impact the game had on the popularity of basketball, most notably in the state of Texas.

"When I first came to the University of Houston, the state of Texas was known primarily as a football state," Hayes said. "Nobody really cared about basketball. Now when I look around and see the popularity of basketball throughout the South, I think it was really largely due to one game, the UCLA-Houston game, which showed that basketball was a marketable product. That game was also the birthplace of many other wonderful things, like cable television. Just to be a part of that birthplace, watching it grow like a parent watches a child grow up, has been a thrill and a very wonderful journey for me."

Hayes finished his four-year University of Houston career in 1968 with averages of 31.1 points and 17.2 rebounds per game, leaving little doubt that he would be the first pick in the 1968 NBA Draft. The expansion San Diego Rockets, who had won just 15 games in their inaugural 1967-68 season, were in dire need of a big man so they immediately selected Hayes with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Hayes averaged 28.4 points and 17.2 rebounds in his first season for the Rockets, playing in all 82 games and setting the NBA rookie record with 3,695 minutes played, a mark that still stands. Hayes continued posting huge numbers over the next two years and led the Rockets to their first ever playoff berth in 1969. Following the 1970-71 season the Rockets franchise relocated to Houston, a move that was more to Hayes' liking than his teammates'.

"I was really very excited to find out I was moving back to Houston," Hayes said. "I know a lot of other players on the team were saying 'Texas ... there's nothing in Texas but horses. Why are we going there?' But for me, I had played at the University of Houston and had a good career, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to play there again for some of the fans I had played for in college."

The homecoming was short-lived. Hayes played just one season for the Rockets in Houston before being dealt to Baltimore for Jack Marin prior to the 1972-73 season. Hayes was disappointed with the trade because he was committed to leading the Rockets to the playoffs in the city where he shined as a collegian.

"From my standpoint, there had been some difficult times when we first came to Houston," Hayes said, referring to the trade. "I had always wanted to take the team to the playoffs and I was traded before I had the opportunity to do that." Hayes played nine seasons for the Bullets, becoming the franchise's all-time leading scorer and leading the team to the 1978 NBA title. Then in 1981 Hayes got a second chance to play in Houston when he was dealt by the Bullets to the Rockets for two second round draft picks. To Hayes, the return to Houston was the fondest of his memories as a member of the Rockets.

"I was so excited to come back to the Rockets," Hayes said. "They were really on the threshold of being a dominant team. My first year back in Houston we made the playoffs and that was really very meaningful for my career and for me as a person."

Following the 1981-82 season, the Rockets traded leading scorer Moses Malone to Philadelphia in a deal that was viewed by many as a rebuilding move by the organization. Houston slumped to just 14 and 29 wins over the next two seasons, but Hayes chose to view the rebuilding as a positive.

"I enjoyed the whole rebuilding process," he said. "A lot of veteran players don't like that, but it was a great experience for me, to be able to work with a guy like Ralph Sampson, teaching him some things and then watching him eventually take the team to the Finals in 1986. It was rewarding to me."

Elvin Hayes averaged 20.6 points and 12.2 rebounds over seven seasons with the Rockets. (Photo provided by Houston Rockets)

Hayes still holds 15 Rockets rookie records and he views those records as being very meaningful to him, especially considering the long line of talented players that have donned a Rockets uniform since he played.

"There have been so many great players like Hakeem Olajuwon, Rudy Tomjanovich and others to play for the Rockets," he said. "Then to see some of the records that I acquired while I was a player still in existence, that means an awful lot to me," he said.

Hayes retired the year before the Rockets drafted Olajuwon in 1984, but he had already established a close friendship with Olajuwon during Hakeem's days at Hayes' alma mater, the University of Houston. With Olajuwon's announcement that the 2000-2001 season will be his last as a professional, Hayes would love to see the Rockets big man have a healthy season and leave the game under his own terms.

"I would like to see Hakeem go out next season putting the team on his back, carrying them to the playoffs, and going out as the shining star that he was when he came into the league," Hayes said. "I want to see him get fully healed and healthy and have a great year next season."

Hayes believes that the Rockets have done an excellent job of surrounding Olajuwon with a great core of young players that will carry the team into the future when Olajuwon leaves after the season. He calls the current Rockets the most exciting Houston team he has seen in a while. "Of course, I really like Steve Francis," Hayes said. "I also think they have a diamond in the rough in Kenny Thomas. He polished his game over the course of the season and began to get better and better. Shandon Anderson is a really good player and Walt Williams shot the ball really well late last season. With the players they have now, and if they are able to help themselves a little in the upcoming draft, they are going to be a super basketball team."