Hayden Riley Explained

Hayden Riley
Birth Date:14 September 1921
Birth Place:Guin, Alabama, U.S.
Death Place:Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S.
Player Years1:1941–1942
Player Team1:Howard (AL) (3 sports)
Player Years2:1946–1948
Player Team2:Alabama (basketball, baseball)
Player Positions:Guard (basketball)
Coach Sport1:Basketball
Coach Years2:1948–1958
Coach Team2:Coffee HS (AL)
Coach Years3:1958–1960
Coach Team3:Alabama (assistant)
Coach Years4:1960–1968
Coach Team4:Alabama
Coach Sport5:Baseball
Coach Years6:1970–1979
Coach Team6:Alabama
Coach Sport7:Football
Coach Years8:1958–1969
Coach Team8:Alabama (assistant)
Admin Years1:1982–1984
Admin Team1:GSC (commissioner)
Overall Record:102–104 (basketball)
224–163–1 (baseball)

Loyd Hayden Riley[1] (September 14, 1921 – April 24, 1995) was an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide for eight seasons during the 1960s, and the Tide's head baseball coach for ten seasons in the 1970s.[2] Riley was also a recruiting coordinator for football at Alabama under Paul "Bear" Bryant.[3]

College and military

Born and raised in Guin, Alabama, Riley was a four-sport athlete in high school and played football, basketball, and baseball at Howard College (now Samford University).[2] He entered the U.S. Navy in 1942 and was stationed at NAS Pensacola in the nearby Florida panhandle as a physical trainer. Following his discharge from the military, he returned to college at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where he lettered in basketball and baseball. He earned a bachelor's degree in physical education in August 1948 and earned a master's degree in 1953.

Coaching

Just days after earning his degree, Riley was the head coach of baseball and basketball at Coffee High School in Florence. He stayed for a decade, and his basketball team won the state championship in 1951, with high finishes in other years.[4] One of his players at Coffee was Wimp Sanderson, a future assistant under Riley at Alabama and later the Tide's head coach. Riley was also the head football coach at CHS for three seasons, beginning in 1955. He moved to the University of Alabama in 1958 as a football assistant to Bear Bryant (also Alabama's athletic director) Hayden was one of the Best recruiters and evaluation of talent. He had an unbelievable talent of remembering anybody's name and from his stent in the Navy knew people all over the nation which helped in the recruiting and assistant basketball coach under Eugene Lambert.[5] When Lambert left in 1960, Riley was promoted to head basketball coach. After eight seasons, Riley suffered his first losing season and resigned in 1968, and continued as an assistant athletic director.[6] In 1970, he succeeded Joe Sewell as head baseball coach for ten seasons and stepped down for health reasons in 1979.[7] [8] [9]

Riley served in the athletic department at Alabama until 1982,[3] then became commissioner of the Gulf South Conference from 1982 for two years.[10] He suffered a stroke in 1987[11] and was confined to a wheelchair, and lived at the VA hospital in Tuscaloosa.[12] [13] Riley died of a heart attack in 1995 at age 73,[9] [14] and was buried in Tuscaloosa.

A city park in his hometown of Guin is named for him.[15]

Personal

Riley was married to the former Lauranne Kudrop of Greenville and they had three children, two sons and a daughter.[16] Riley had five sisters[17] and was the older brother of football coach Bud Riley (1925–2012), who was the father of Mike Riley, the former head football coach at Oregon State and Nebraska.[18] Nephew Mike (b.1953) played football at Alabama as a reserve defensive back in the early 1970s while Hayden was the head baseball coach.[9] [14] [18] Another nephew, Major Ogilvie,[19] was a running back in the Tide's wishbone offense from 1977 through 1980 and won two national championships.[20] [21] [22] Ogilvie is the son of Riley's sister Peggy.[17]

Career record

Baseball

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Legal notices: Estate of Loyd Hayden Riley . Tuscaloosa News . May 25, 1995 . 8C.
  2. News: Friends pay tribute to Riley . Tuscaloosa News . Carroll . Andrew . April 26, 1995 . 4C .
  3. News: Riley overlooked by Alabama Sports Hall of Fame . Tuscaloosa News . Reed . Delbert . February 21, 1996 . 2C.
  4. News: Riley has everything needed as great coach . Florence Times . Alabama . Halbrooks . Hap . April 8, 1956 . 12.
  5. News: Hayden Riley appointed assistant football, cage coach at Alabama . Florence Times . Alabama . Halbrooks . Hap . March 11, 1958 . 4, section 2.
  6. News: Riley quits post . Gadsden Times . Alabama . Associated Press . March 4, 1968 . 7.
  7. News: Riley resigns as UA coach . Tuscaloosa News . Browning . Al . May 20, 1979 . 1B .
  8. News: Bama's Riley resigns . Gadsden Times . Alabama . May 20, 1979 . 39.
  9. News: Friends pay tribute to Riley . Tuscaloosa News . Carroll . Andrew . April 24, 1995 . 4C.
  10. News: Hayden Riley: I don't think I've ever had a day off work . Times Daily . Florence, Alabama . Hodges . Jeff . February 3, 1983 . 16.
  11. News: Riley suffers stroke . Times Daily . Florence, Alabama . wire reports . February 1, 1987 . 2D.
  12. News: Hayden Riley: he's been a jack-of-all-sports . Tuscaloosa News . Hurt . Cecil . July 30, 1987 . 17.
  13. News: Florence welcomes Riley back . Times Daily . Florence, Alabama . Smith . Wayne . February 22, 1988 . 1B.
  14. News: Former Tide coach remembered . Gadsden Times . (NYT regional newspapers) . Alabama . April 26, 1995 . C1.
  15. Web site: City of Guin, Alabama - Hayden Riley Park . GuinAl.org . June 9, 2016.
  16. News: Sidelines . Tuscaloosa News . July 30, 1967 . 10.
  17. Web site: Margaret Riley Watkins - (1933-2010) . obits.dignitymemorial.com . October 20, 2014.
  18. News: The lives of two Rileys define Oregon State football . Oregonian . Portland . Tokito . Mike . December 2, 2009 . October 20, 2014.
  19. News: Bama not sound: Gryska . Gadsden Times . Alabama . Smothers . Jimmy . September 27, 1977 . 9 .
  20. News: Ogilvie doesn't need limelight, he's got 'Bama . Palm Beach Post . Mlynczak . Larry . October 14, 1979 . E4 .
  21. News: Bama running legend Major Ogilvie to be inducted into 2014 Alabama Sports Hall of Fame class (video) . AL.com . Wray . Cheryl . December 14, 2013 . October 20, 2014 .
  22. News: Where are they now? Major Ogilvie . ESPN . September 4, 2009 . October 20, 2014.