Eric Hays

Eric Hays is a former University of Montana basketball player who served as head basketball coach of at Hellgate High School in Missoula, Mont., for 25 years. He was a mathematics teacher there until his retirement in 2009.

Hays is best remembered for his outstanding performance at the 1975 NCAA tournament against the powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the Sweet 16. He scored a game-high 32 points on 13-of-16 shooting, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists in the Grizzlies' 67-64 loss to the eventual national champions, who had six players that went on to play in the NBA.

Eric Hays was born July 4, 1952, in Junction City, Ore., a farming community roughly 15 miles from Eugene and 25 miles from Corvallis. Hays lived there for the first 18 years of his life and attended Junction City High School where he was a two-year starter on the basketball team as well as the football team's quarterback for one season before injuring the growth plate in his shoulder during his sophomore year. His high school consisted of 450 students throughout three grades. Hays believed he would eventually raise a family in a similar community-oriented environment with a small school.

Hays attended Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. Originally, he planned on being an accountant, but changed his aspirations toward coaching after observing one of his brother's high school games, in which he thought the coaching was "unfair" to the players. Hays then declared his major as math education and pursued his goals of becoming a high school teacher and basketball coach.

Hays also pursued basketball at WSU because the Cougars allowed players to "walk-on," meaning non-recruited students could try out for the team. Hays defied the odds and made the freshman team of 20. Before the season began, he rose to the position of "sixth man," the first player off the bench during games. By the fourth game that season, Hays was one of the starting five and never relinquished the role. The Junction City native ended the season second in both scoring and rebounding on a team that finished with an outstanding record of 20-2. Midway through his freshman year, Hays was awarded a full-ride scholarship by the university due to his excellence on the court.

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