Chuck Hayes story from last year

I know there's been a heavy dosage of Chuck Hayes around here of late but I came across this on the net and after reading it had to post it here. I aint gonna lie, brought a tear to my eye.

Posted on Sun, Nov. 14, 2004

PURE CHUCK

For Hayes, putting others first is second natureBy Jerry TiptonHERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERChuck Hayes liked to tease his mother about how young she was when she became a mother. Tracey was barely 18 when she and her boyfriend since the eighth grade, Charles Hayes, became expectant parents.
"No one has a child at 18," Hayes would tell Tracey. "I must have been a mistake."
Tracey knew her son was kidding. That child, grown up and leading Kentucky's basketball team into the 2004-2005 season, was no mistake.
"To me," Tracey says now, "Chuck is a very special seed."
Those who have come in contact with Hayes would agree.
Ask about Hayes and UK Coach Tubby Smith notes the "honest effort," how Hayes "never dodges responsibility," doesn't cut corners, is "clean-cut" and "well-spoken," student as well as athlete, friend to the least celebrated of his teammates, bell cow and workhorse, star player and team player.
"He's got the package," Smith said.
Not perfect
At first glance, Hayes seems too good to be true. Friends and family use words like "quintessential" and "epitome" in describing him.
Of course, Hayes is not perfect. His father noted how his son once drove too long on squeaky brakes, a problem the visiting Charles Hayes corrected by pulling into a repair shop on the drive into Lexington from the airport. There was the time in junior high when Hayes defied the coach's wishes by sneaking into the gym. He got caught when he was forced to confess to breaking the rim off the backboard with a dunk.
Hayes himself admits to the time he took his father's ATM card and bought his girlfriend a Valentine's Day gift. "He was kind of ticked off," he said of his father's reaction. "I had to pay the money back."
Although Hayes comes across as about as rebellious as an Eagle Scout, teammate Bobby Perry said, "He's not a goody-two-shoes."
Yet, Perry added, "People don't come along like him too often."

'Chuck's dad'

Hayes was born in, if not Hell's Kitchen, then perhaps Hell's pantry. Oakland, Calif., was his parents' hometown, but the thought of raising a family there scared Charles and Tracey.
"I didn't want to raise my children in that environment," Tracey Hayes said. "Gangs. Killings. Nothing positive."
Charles Hayes hints at his own misdeeds as a young man, but steadfastly refuses to offer details.
When his son was entering the fifth grade, Charles Hayes moved the family 90 miles east to Modesto, which in Spanish means modest.
"I didn't want him to be Charlie's son," the elder Hayes said. "I'm Chuck's dad now. If I'd stayed there, he'd be Charlie's son."
Charles and Tracey added three more children, a daughter and two sons. Chuck Hayes was first among equals among the children, a position of responsibility rather than privilege. "We told him, 'You're the oldest,'" Tracey said. "'You have to set an example.' We depended a lot on him."

'Third parent'

By all accounts, he grew to be a classic firstborn child: responsible, eager to please. Because Charles and Tracey worked, Hayes took care of his younger siblings until mom and dad got home.
"He had to take almost a third-parent role," said Ron Agostini, a columnist for The Modesto Bee.
"I had to cook, clean," Hayes said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Changed diapers (pause) all the time,
Heredity as well as environment may have instilled in Hayes a strong sense of responsibility. The son followed his mother's example. Tracey was 14 when her parents died. For a while, she and a younger brother stayed with an aunt and uncle. "When I was 18," she said, "I raised my brother, who was 15."

'Rock-solid foundation'

By the time Chuck Hayes reached high school age, he wanted to join his friends in public school. But his father decided on Modesto Christian, a church-based private school with an enrollment of about 200. Hayes had played well for his summer coach, Gary Porter, and Porter's move to Modesto Christian simplified the decision on which high school to attend. "A no-brainer," said the elder Hayes, who is a foreman for a paper company.
To help pay Modesto Christian's $6,000 annual tuition, Tracey worked two jobs. She was a pharmacy technician in the day, and a nighttime data entry operator for the U.S. Postal Service.
Smith saw the family sacrifices and Modesto Christian's religious discipline as the biggest influence in shaping Hayes. "It's a rock-solid foundation you can always rely on," the UK coach said.

'Down-to-earth guy'

Hayes was an all-state player in football as well as basketball for Modesto Christian. He became a Parade All-American in basketball. Yet, sportswriter Will Deboard, not yet 30 when he covered Modesto Christian for The Modesto Bee, recalled, "It took me about six months to get him to stop calling me Mr. Deboard."
While at Modesto Christian, Hayes acted as a mentor to the daughter of Principal Rod Lemburg. Hayes helped teach Katie Lemburg basketball moves she could use on the girls' team. Now a freshman player for Azusa Pacific, Katie Lemburg said Hayes has tried to help her overcome homesickness this fall.
"He's really a down-to-earth guy," she said. "He accepts everybody. I don't know how to say it, but he seems to care for other people."

MVP moment

Modesto Christian officials like to tell the story about how Hayes won a most valuable player award in a regular-season tournament. After the championship game, as the teams awaited the awards presentation, Hayes sat on the bench with Nathan Brown, a child with Down's syndrome and the son of a math teacher Hayes had in junior high.
Nathan liked to watch games and especially enjoyed joining the post-game handshakes between the teams.
"Nathan is the type, everybody is his friend," said his father, George Brown. "He'll go up to anyone and say, 'Hi, I'm Nathan. What's your name?' "
When Hayes was announced as the MVP, he insisted that Nathan join him as he walked up to accept the trophy. Then Hayes had Nathan carry the trophy back to the bench.
"Boy, it meant the world to Nathan," George Brown said. "He was a part of something."
When asked what the scene meant to him, George Brown choked up. "Chuck is a special person," he said in a halting voice. Then Brown excused himself for a moment.
After regaining his composure, George Brown said of Hayes, "It's not like he was trying to gain Brownie points or impress somebody. It was his second nature."

Thaddeus

Hayes' youngest brother, Thaddeus, is autistic. Thaddeus was fine until he received immunizations at 18 months old. Then the Hayes family noticed changes.
Thaddeus, who is 8, has a limited vocabulary. He loves his family and recognizes his big brother when Kentucky basketball games come on television.
But when the family attended Big Blue Madness last year, Thaddeus did not fully grasp the scene.
"He knows it has to do with Chuck," Tracey said. "But he doesn't understand the concept of basketball."
Chuck Hayes delights in each of his youngest brother's triumphs. When Thaddeus learned to tie his shoes, Hayes said he was "blown away."
When asked about his relationship with Thaddeus, Hayes called his youngest brother "my heart."
"We're so close. Thad, man, when I'm home, I don't want to leave his sight. I love playing with him."
Yet Hayes does not couch his basketball career in terms of a mission for Thaddeus. Such a script seems made for Hollywood, but a stretch for Modesto.
"I wouldn't say I play for him," Hayes said. "But I think of him a lot, like after games."
Charles and Tracey have asked their older children -- Chuck, Charlea and Tyree -- to always look after Thad.
"If my parents pass, Thad will live with me," Hayes said. "Wherever I go, he'll go. I made that promise to my parents. Thad will not be in a home."
There is a cruel irony in this. Hayes gives of himself to children. He worked camps with Katie Lemburg, who noted how "he'd always be playing with kids."
But because of the autism, Hayes cannot forge a fully formed big brother-little brother relationship with Thaddeus.
"I know it hurts him," Tracey said, "because I know he wishes ..."
Her voice trailed off and she could be heard crying. When she got back on the telephone, Hayes' mother said, "When Chuck is with kids, he has to connect with them. I know he wishes he could do that with his own brother."

Pride of Modesto

Because of Hayes, Kentucky basketball has become popular in the San Joaquin valley of central California.
Hayes' impact on the populace hit home when Michael Grice applied to have his daughter, Ally, accepted into Modesto Christian two years ago.
Grice, a native of Elizabethtown, moved to California in 1989. Two years ago, he took a job in Modesto running a performing-arts center established by the Gallo winery. Ally, who was about to begin high school, recoiled at the idea of moving.
To entice her, Michael Grice noted that Chuck Hayes attended Modesto Christian. This got Ally to agree to apply for admission.
Father and daughter cited different reasons for admiring Hayes. "He just seems like a great basketball player," Ally said before adding, "and he's a good-looking guy."
For Michael Grice, Hayes is "the quintessential Kentucky player. A good coach's player and a good fans' player."
Ally happily attends Modesto Christian.

Mr. Anonymous
Hayes' major is broadcast journalism. He aspires to be a basketball analyst, sitting with such ESPN luminaries as Stephen A. Smith and Greg Anthony and playing "Fact or Fiction."
A classroom moment early this semester suggests he takes his studies seriously -- that he does not want to use his basketball fame to coast through his academic requirements.
The moment came in a journalism class called "Mass Media and Diversity: Pop Culture." The instructor, Dr. Deborah Chung, asked the students to divide into pairs, interview each other and then introduce the partner to the class.
Because there were an uneven number of students present, Hayes paired with Chung. Hayes answered Chung's questions without ever mentioning his pre-eminent place in UK's pre-eminent sport.
So, Chung informed the other students that Hayes was from California and that his favorite sport to watch and play was basketball.
"Everybody was, like, 'Duh,'" Hayes said.
When asked about the moment, Chung noted that she is in her first year teaching at UK. "Chuck's tall," she said, "but he didn't strike me as tall for a basketball player. ... Chuck didn't come across as the snobby celebrity athlete.
"He participates in class. I don't think he's blowing off the class at all."
Hayes resents the assumptions people make about athletes: that the term student-athlete is an oxymoron, that the term dumb jock is a redundancy.
"It's a stereotype and it's a stigma," he said. "Not only for basketball players but for all athletes.
"My parents never had it easy. Neither have I. My whole mind-set is I don't want any free handouts."
Hayes will complete his requirements for a broadcast journalism degree in December. He'll become the first person on his father's side of the family to be a college graduate and the second on his mother's side. As for basketball, he'll take enough electives in the spring semester to stay eligible.
Chung acknowledged her embarrassment about not knowing Hayes. She knows of his basketball fame now. Or as Chung put it, "I recently discovered he is the 'it' guy."

A joy to behold

No doubt Hayes tires of being in the spotlight, of being the role model. Of course, there are times he'd like to let someone else be the "it" guy for a while.
He seems to see through the superficial nature of celebrity. A player whose nickname, "Cankles" -- inspired by how his muscled calves blend seamlessly into his thick ankles -- seems too solid and real for the great American sports hype machine.
Then there's always Thaddeus to keep him grounded.
During his freshman year at UK, Hayes went home for Christmas. He arrived late Christmas Eve and crashed on the living room couch near the Christmas tree.
The next morning Thaddeus awoke, walked into the living room and gazed upon Santa's handiwork.
"Oooo," Thaddeus said as he saw his big brother. "Look what we got"

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/sports/special_packages/college_basketball_preview/10133505.htm

 

..............