Heat is on Del Rio native to lead U.S. to that elusive medal

02/22/2002

By BRAD TOWNSEND / The Dallas Morning News

PARK CITY, Utah – Warranted or not, the considerable weight of America's men's bobsled program rests upon the shoulders of one 32-year-old.

Todd Hays. From Del Rio, Texas, of all places.

Implausible as it seems, here he is at the Winter Olympics, about to pilot the United States' No. 1 four-man sled through two runs on Friday and two on Saturday, all at Olympic Park.

The sled and cargo weigh 1,388 pounds. The ice track has 15 curves. A world-class run takes less than 47 seconds.

But anyone who has followed the travails of the U.S. men's bobsled program realizes that Hays' load is more cumbersome, the curves more pronounced, the finish line less visible than for the other medal contenders.

Such is the case when you are lugging 46 years of futility, frustration and embarrassment. Forty-six years of your country earning nary a medal in two-man or four-man competition, despite a galling number of close calls.

"Everything I've done the last four years, everything the U.S. has been through in the sport, comes down to this," Hays says. "Hopefully, we'll medal and end the wait."

The wait has been even more difficult since Sunday. In the two-man competition that day, Hays and brakeman Garrett Hines rallied on their final two runs, but finished in fourth place – a mere three-hundredths of a second out of a medal spot.

Yes, on Tuesday, the women's tandem of Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers officially ended America's bobsled medal drought by earning gold. But that was the Olympic debut of women's bobsled.

Bakken's and Flowers' victory, though significant, did nothing to settle old scores for the men. It did little to ease the "sting" Hays admitted feeling Sunday, nor the memory of Brian Shimer's close call in 1998 at Nagano, when his four-man crew finished two-hundredths of a second out of a medal spot.

"The four-man is Todd's stronger event," says Shimer, 39, who is competing in his fifth Olympics but is not considered a medal threat in four-man. "I'm sure he'll be ready.

"Todd is the fiercest competitor I've ever been around in the sport. I can't say I enjoy going against him, but he may be what the sport needs."

Indeed, as foreboding as the historically tough German and Swiss teams will be Friday and Saturday, Hays has stared down and overcome more intimidating challenges.

Such as when he was a high school senior, playing quarterback against a nationally ranked San Antonio Holmes team.

So Del Rio lost, 47-7, but Hays threw the first touchdown pass allowed by Holmes that season.

Then there was college football. Hays not only made a successful transition from Cisco Junior College to Tulsa University, but became a standout linebacker.

Hays was cut twice by Toronto of the Canadian Football League but turned to kick boxing and won the 1993 national championship.

"A lot of guys try to read between the lines and try to manufacture drama, say 'This is a huge deal, I need to perform well or my life is over,' " Hays says. "I try to eliminate all that and just concentrate on the task at hand."

Such as that summer day in San Antonio in 1994, when Hays opened U.S. Bobsled recruiters' eyes during a tryout. The previous day, Hays was sitting on a couch at home in Del Rio when his brother, Lee, informed him of the tryout and that they were going to depart at 5 a.m.

That is how a guy from a rugged, dusty border town wound up here, in Salt Lake City. But that is only a fraction of Hays' unlikely story and only partly illustrates his competitiveness.

Yes, German drivers Christoph Langen and Andre Lange, as well as Canada's Pierre Lueders, will be formidable opponents Friday and Saturday.

But not nearly as intimidating as the one Hays faced in Japan in 1995. He was one of eight freestyle fighters from around the world invited to compete in the Japan Open, which also was called the Valley Todo – a Brazilian term for "anything goes."

The 6-3, 230-pound Hays won his first three matches, propelling him to a match against Japan's unbeaten champion. About 60,000 fans attended, most, as Hays recalls, screaming for blood. Hays', that is.

"Basically, we knew that his goal was to take me down to the ground and administer his choke or submission hold," Hays says. "He thought that I was a kickboxer and that I was susceptible to a straight take down, so what we did was plan for him to shoot in for the single or double-leg takedown.

"When he did that, he would expose his neck. Fortunately, it went to plan...I put the guillotine choke and choked him until he submitted. He couldn't believe he lost. He started crying and yelling."

Hays suffered a torn shoulder ligament that day but took the $10,000 he won and bought his first bobsled. It took years of slowly climbing the U.S. Bobsled ladder, but last year Hays replaced Shimer as America's No. 1-ranked driver.

Then he finished first among all two-man and four-man drivers in the 2001-2002 World Cup standings.

"The two-man is like driving a sports car," Hays explains. "The four-man is like driving a Cadillac. It's smoother and you can put it where you want, but it does get out of control."

Which kind of describes Hays' personality.

He tends to flash his competitive side. Such as the beginning of these Games, when he chastised the IOC following the doping suspension of his brakeman Pavle Jovanovic. Jovanovic, Hays insisted, took an approved dietary supplement that was contaminated with a steroid not listed on the label.

But Hays refused to use the suspension as an excuse in the two-man, even though Shimer believes it cost Hays a medal. Hays seems to have put that behind him now.

Forty-six years of history? He has overcome bigger obstacles.

"I always say the look on my face will describe it all," he says. "Just watch me [Friday and Saturday]. You will be able to tell how I'm feeling."