SPORTS
May 25, 2013
Laird Hayes, the NFL referee and a Newport Beach resident, was among several "celebrities" who helped raise $90,000 at the inaugural KidWorks Classic Golf Tournament April 29 at Aliso Viejo Country Club, according to a KidWorks press release. In addition to Hayes, former USC quarterback Paul McDonald, former UCLA quarterbacks Matt Stevens and Wayne Cook, former USC fullback Brandon Hancock and former USC linebacker and New England Patriots linebacker Thomas Williams were on hand for the golf tournament.
SPORTS
By Steve Virgen | September 27, 2012
When one of the most controversial calls in NFL history took place, Laird Hayes wasn't watching it during the Monday Night Football telecast. Hayes, a Newport Beach resident and an NFL side judge entering his 18th season, said he was watching the movie, "Midnight in Paris. " "I absolutely refused to watch those scabs work," said Hayes, who made the big call on Mario Manningham's catch along the sideline during the Giants' game-winning drive against the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI in February.
SPORTS
By Steve Virgen | February 6, 2012
With a 17-year career that has featured three Super Bowls, eight divisional games, five wild-card contests and one conference championship game, Laird Hayes has had some great moments as a side judge in the NFL. But the greatest time in his career came Sunday, when the Newport Beach resident made the right call on the biggest play on the biggest stage. During the New York Giants' game-winning drive, quarterback Eli Manning launched a bomb toward the sideline to receiver Mario Manningham.
SPORTS
January 16, 2012
Newport Beach resident earns assignment as side judge for Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis. Newport Beach resident Laird Hayes learned Monday that he would be on the officiating crew for Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis, Ind. Hayes, a former Orange Coast College men's soccer coach in his 16th season as an NFL official, will be the side judge on the seven-man crew. It's the third Super Bowl assignment for Hayes, 61, who also worked Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 and Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002.
SPORTS
By Steve Virgen, steve.virgen@latimes.com | April 6, 2011
A picture can sometimes seem so simple, especially a group photo. But this wasn't just any typical picture. There weren't any special poses, mind you. Just smiles. From those faces you could still see the youth and carefreeness that constantly showed during their days on the Orange Coast College surf team. Some 30 years later, sure they've all grown in age, but their personalities have hardly changed. Many of them are still part of the surf culture. So what do you do at a party if you're a surfer?
NEWS
By Tom Ragan | February 5, 2010
As millions of football fanatics sit down Sunday to watch the Super Bowl between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, know this, Orange County folks: There’s a Newport Beach resident who’s been to the Super Bowl twice — and he wasn’t sitting in the stands. He’s got the pinstripes, the hat, the shoes, the whistle, the flags, even the professional pig skin. He even has a number: It’s No. 125. Laird Hayes, an Orange Coast College instructor, is living the dream.
NEWS
By Jim Carnett | August 18, 2009
During Sunday night cross-country flights home, Laird Hayes watches NFL football on his laptop. That’s not so unusual. Lots of folks turn their attention to America’s favorite sport on transcontinental flights. But Hayes, a former catcher for Princeton University’s baseball team who has a doctorate in higher education from UCLA, sits in his first-class seat and breaks down a DVD replay of the game he officiated earlier that day. Laird, an Orange Coast College dean, professor and head soccer coach for the past 33 years, is an NFL side judge.
NEWS
February 4, 2008
Orange Coast College soccer coach and NFL referee Laird Hayes was interpreting officials? calls during the Super Bowl Sunday, he just wasn?t doing it in front of millions of people. Because the NFL instituted new rules for officials to get more to the big game, Hayes, who has already officiated two Super Bowls, sat this one out. The league examines the top three officials from each position, and the one with the fewest Super Bowls gets the nod. ?I?m the only side judge with two,?