Best Idahoan to Play in the NBA? That would be Idaho State’s Steve Hayes

“The first time I played against Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar), I was super excited and nervous… Growing up, I was in awe of his abilities. Being tall and playing center, I studied how to shoot his sky hook and had some pretty good success at it as it became an effective shot for me in college. 

“…My plan was to not let him take his step to shoot his hook shot and make him go the other direction. When he went that direction, he normally shot a turn-around jump shot, which he was not as accurate at making as his hook…. The first time he caught the ball, I quickly positioned myself on his left side to take away his step to shoot his hook. He decided to shoot his hook anyway, and his forearm hit me directly in my chest as he went to take his step. I kept my feet planted and fell on to my back, drawing the charging foul. He then stepped over me shooting his hook and making it. 

“The whistle blew and I jumped up to my feet and started down the court, proud of myself for taking a charge on Kareem.  Then I realized the ref had called the foul on me and Kareem’s shot counted and he was also getting to shoot a free throw. 

“…I was upset and quickly went to the ref to plead my case. He turned to me and quietly told me, ‘Steve, you are never going to be able to get a charging foul called on Kareem while you are guarding him, so calm down and line up for the free throw,’ and then he patted me on the back.”

                                                                           --Former Idaho State center and NBA journeyman Steve Hayes

Some 44 years after Steve Hayes played his last basketball game at Idaho State, he is still, arguably, the best player in Bengal history. Perhaps even more surprising, he is, in the estimation of national publication The Athletic, the best NBA player who was born and raised in the state of Idaho. 

In a recent listing of the best NBA players from each of the 50 states, The Athletic noted Hayes, a 7-foot center, appeared in 212 regular season NBA games over five seasons, far more than any other player who was born and raised in Idaho. (The runner up was Twin Falls’ Andy Toolson, who played two seasons with the Utah Jazz and, ironically, spent time in the CBA playing for Hayes with the Tri-City Chinook. Former Bengal Dale Wilkinson was one of two honorable mentions). 

Given the dearth of Idahoans who have made the NBA, being the “best” is a modest enough claim to fame. But when you sit down and talk to Hayes about his vagabond travels around the best basketball league in the world, you quickly realize what a life changing experience his NBA career turned out to be.

“Looking back for me, I would have rather played for just one team and learned the system,” said Hayes, who now lives in Houston and works for Conoco-Phillips. “But in retrospect, I’m friends with so many people now. I’ve been active in the NBA Retired Players Association, and it’s amazing how many players I know from that time period.”

In addition to those life-long friendships with former NBA players, Hayes had several brushes with greatness in his five seasons, ranging from setting picks for Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas with the Pistons, to coaxing Julius “Dr. J.” Erving to have dinner with Hayes’ cousin one evening as a birthday present for his relative. 

“It’s kind of like a fraternity when you’re in the league,” said Hayes. “It’s not like you’re on one level and the superstars are on the other, you’re just teammates. When I first started going to these things (NBA Retired Players Association), that’s what impressed me. I was elected to the Board of Directors and (Hall of Famer) Rick Barry was on that board. We lobbied to get pension and health insurance benefits for former players.” 

The path to the NBA was a never-ending struggle for Hayes, the product of Aberdeen, Idaho (population 1,900). Every year he and his agent looked for the best opportunity to make an NBA roster, while always keeping other options, like playing overseas or in the CBA, at hand. The need for “flexibility” began immediately, after Hayes was drafted in the fourth round by the New York Knicks. Hayes had just led Idaho State to its greatest season in history, reaching the NCAA Elite Eight after beating Long Beach State and shocking UCLA before losing to Nevada-Las Vegas in the 1977 NCAA tournament. 

The Knicks told Hayes his contract wasn’t guaranteed and he was unlikely to make the roster, so he accepted an offer from a team in Bologna, Italy which was actually for more money than the Knicks were offering. The merry-go-round was just beginning. 

One year the Denver Nuggets wanted to sign him, but found out that technically he was still property of the Knicks, who had never officially “waived” him. The Knicks refused to release Hayes without compensation, so the Denver deal died. In another “near miss,” Hayes went to camp with the Portland Trail Blazers, who had just lost Bill Walton to the Clippers in what was then known as “restricted free agency.” Under that process, the league established compensation for the free agent, and had decided to send center Kevin Kunnert and power forward Kermit Washington to the Trail Blazers as compensation for Walton.

 

Hall of Fame Coach Jack Ramsey was running the Blazers then and when he found out who Portland was getting in return for Walton, he told the team, “This shouldn’t impact anybody here – except you, Hayes.” Sure enough, Hayes was waived shortly thereafter and eventually went to Anchorage to play in the CBA, which served as a kind of “minor league” for NBA player development.  

In the interim, however, Hayes signed what he’s pretty sure was the shortest contract in NBA history. After his release by Portland, the Indiana Pacers called. Their center got hurt, they flew Hayes in, he signed his contract, went to practice that night and then showed up for morning drills and evening workouts the next day. Bobby Leonard, the Pacers coach, didn’t put Hayes into the evening scrimmage and he approached the coach afterward to assure him he knew the plays well enough to get some time in the scrimmage.

“After the practice, Leonard said, ‘Steve, this is really bad, but we traded for another center and we’re releasing you,’ “ said Hayes, “So it was basically a one-day contract.” 

More NBA near-misses followed a CBA championship in Alaska and another season in Italy. Chicago invited him to camp with plans to trade former all-star Larry Kenon and his guaranteed contract to clear a spot for Hayes. The former Bengal spent three weeks on the injured reserve list with a “sprained ankle” that kept him out of exhibition games, but mysteriously didn’t impact his ability to practice. After three weeks of trying to move Kenon’s contract, the Bulls gave up and cut Hayes instead. So it was back to Anchorage and the CBA, until the day after Christmas, when he got a call from San Antonio, who was looking for an injury replacement. Hayes was signed to two ten-day contracts by the Spurs, then released when the injured player returned. 

If you’re starting to sense a here-today, gone-tomorrow pattern, you’re catching on to the theme of Hayes’ professional basketball experiences. After San Antonio released him, he got a call from someone who claimed to be the general manager of the Detroit Pistons. Hayes was skeptical because the GMs typically contacted the coach of the CBA teams, not the player directly. Turned out this was just another twist in the Steve Hayes story. 

It really was the GM of the Pistons, and he wanted Hayes to join the team for a game the next day in Indianapolis. He caught a flight out of Anchorage to Seattle, spent the night there, then flew to Indianapolis the next day. He arrived at the arena shortly before game time, had to convince the security guard to let him in, met the GM, signed his contract, was briefed by Coach Scotty Robertson on the offense and actually got minutes in the game. 

“It was pretty simple,” Hayes recalled. “I’d catch the ball and hand off, or set a screen for Isiah Thomas. There was one play, though, when the ball went out of bounds and they called play No. 1. I had no idea what that was.” 

The Pistons signed Hayes for the remainder of the season, then traded him to Cleveland in another Hayes brush with greatness. Hayes was traded for a second round draft pick, which Detroit used to draft Dennis Rodman, one of the best rebounders and defenders in NBA history, and a key piece of the Pistons “Bad Boys” championship teams.

Hayes got his longest NBA run in Cleveland, playing in 65 games, averaging 16 minutes, 3.6 points and 3.7 rebounds a contest during the 1982-83 season. But the Cavs released him the next season, and so it  was off to Seattle, New Jersey, back to the CBA with Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, and finally the Utah Jazz. He finished his NBA career averaging 2.6 points and 2.5 rebounds in 212 appearances. 

When he signed with Philadelphia, he was acquired to fill in for all-star Moses Malone, who was out with an injury. On their first road trip, Hayes sat in Malone’s assigned plane seat, next to Dr. J. When they passed out per diem payments to the players, Hayes’ envelope still had Malone’s name on it, and Hayes noted in his journal that he kept the envelope. It wasn’t his last connection to the Hall of Fame center. 

When Malone’s career ended, the 76ers wanted to retire his number. Malone agreed, but with one stipulation – that his jersey that hung from the rafters included all the names of his former teammates in Philadelphia. That included one Steve Hayes, whose name now also hangs from the ceiling of the 76ers arena, right along with Malone’s retired jersey. 

When Hayes first signed with the 76ers in 1985, it was on another 10-day contract, while Malone and backup center Clemon Johnson recuperated from injury. When his contract expired, the Philly coaching staff told him to wait after practice while team executives met to decide whether to sign him to a new contract or release him.  Hayes hung around the arena practicing free throws while he waited to learn his fate. Dr. J. appeared, asked Hayes what was going on, and when he found out that Hayes’ future with the team was in the balance, he joined Hayes and shot free throws with him. 

“I thought of all the players, Dr. J. probably had a hundred things to do, for him to stay 30 minutes with me, that made a big impression,” said Hayes. “What was even more exciting, they came out and said they were keeping me for the rest of the season.”

It All Started in Aberdeen

Long before he saw his name on the NBA transactions list, Hayes was a skinny, 6-foot-2-inch tall sophomore on the junior varsity team at Aberdeen High School. He sprouted to 6-7 his junior year when he moved up to the varsity, then hit 6-10 before his senior season, when he led the Tigers to the state championship and suddenly became a subject of recruiting interest among regional college coaches. 

His body was still catching up to his growth spurt, and weighing only 180 pounds, he still wasn’t a national level recruit. In fact, the college of his choice, Brigham Young University, told Hayes they didn’t have a scholarship for him, but he could walk-on if he liked. Idaho State Coach Jim Killingsworth was a regular at Aberdeen High School games, and, with BYU not interested, Hayes’ decision soon came down to ISU and Utah State. (Hayes did make a courtesy visit to the University of Idaho, whose coach told him if he didn’t convince the best player in the state to at least visit, he’d probably be fired). 

“I was really leaning to Utah State, but I got two phone calls during my recruitment,” recalled Hayes. “One was from Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus, who talked to me about Idaho pride, and how important it was for Idaho kids to stay in Idaho. And the second was from Senator Frank Church. I don’t know how Killer (Killingsworth) had contacts like that, but for a small-town kid growing up in Aberdeen, that played a lot.”

An acknowledged “home body,” Hayes also liked the idea he’d be playing just 40 miles from home, that his brother was going to ISU, and it would be easy for his parents to come watch games. “It turned out to be the right choice,” Hayes said. “I was always satisfied at Idaho State.”

Hayes has only to look back at how much he developed under Killingsworth and his staff to know he made the right choice. Killingsworth designed an individual workout program for his young center that consisted of practicing his post moves and shots every morning for 30 minutes with an assistant coach or graduate assistant. After his junior year, when he was named all-conference for the second straight season, Hayes decided he wanted a bit of a break from the individual workouts and told the assistant coach who ran the drills that he was going to take some time off.

“Coach Killingsworth called me and said, ‘I understand you don’t want to do the drills,’ “said Hayes. “I said that’s right, and he said, “So you don’t really want to play in the NBA?’ I said, ‘Okay, I’ll be there tomorrow morning.’ He invested a lot of time in me, and ran a special offense for me. It’s hard not to like a coach when you have practice for 15 minutes and the only person who can shoot is Hayes….”

Hayes also credited teammate Dan Spindler, who was ISU’s starting center Hayes’ freshman season, for taking him under his wing and showing him the Division I ropes. “He was my mentor, my big brother, he was a big factor in my development,” said Hayes. “The fact the he took the time to spend with a freshman who was trying to take his minutes says a lot about him. We’re still good friends today.” 

Perhaps no story better illustrates the leaps in Hayes’ development than his play against Loyola-Marymount. After his freshman season, Hayes was voted by the LMU players to their “all-stiff team” – the worst players they played against that season. The next year, Hayes put up his career high of 46 points against the Lions. 

As he developed, Hayes also attracted attention from outside southeastern Idaho. He got a call one day from someone in Louisiana, who told Hayes he’d heard he wasn’t happy at Idaho State and, if he were interested, LSU would certainly welcome his talents on the Bayou. Hayes never seriously considered leaving an Idaho State program that would eventually shock the basketball world by knocking out a UCLA team that had appeared in 10 consecutive Final Fours before losing to ISU in Provo, Utah in 1977. 

“UCLA, that’s the only team we ever heard of growing up,” said Hayes. “From the time I was in junior high school, that’s all we ever heard of. But leading up to UCLA, we were a confident team, we had a good run, and we were confident we could compete with them.”

Hayes posted 27 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in leading the Bengals to a 76-75 win, which electrified Pocatello and all of southeastern Idaho. It was so exhilarating, Hayes said, that it was hard for the Bengals to focus on the next opponent, UNLV. “It was an unbelievable feeling beating UCLA, it was almost like winning the championship,” said Hayes. “That was the hard part, coming down from the super high and getting ready to play Vegas.”

The Runnin’ Rebels halted Idaho State’s dream season, 107-90, and Hayes’ legendary Bengal career came to an end with a passel of records and honors. He was elected to the ISU Hall of Fame in 1988, the 1977 team was enshrined in the ISU Ring of Honor, and the Big Sky included Hayes on its Silver Anniversary team of its best players in the first 50 years of the conference. Among his many statistical honors, Hayes still holds the Big Sky single game blocked shot record with 10 against Weber State, he is the conference’s second all-time rebounder with 1147, and ranks first in career blocked shot average (3.5 per game). Hayes was a three-time all-conference player, and led the league in scoring and rebounding twice. 

Hayes plans to retire from Conoco-Phillips this summer and move back to Idaho, where most of his children and grandchildren are located. And in reflecting on The Athletic honor, he said with a laugh, “I might as well go back to Idaho, where I’m still the best at something.”