Laird Hayes--Double referee

Tony Altobelli

If you’re a student at Orange Coast College watching a National

Football League game on the tube some Sunday afternoon and an official

blows a call against your favorite team, be careful what you say.

You might be in one of his classes.

Laird Hayes, OCC men’s soccer co-coach also moonlights as a side judge in

the NFL.

Entering his fifth season in the “bigs”, Hayes has an endless amount of

stories about his Sunday job.

“I was on the field the game of the Detroit-Pittsburgh Thanksgiving game

last year where the new coin toss rule was established,” Hayes said. “And

before you ask, I was on the sidelines so I didn’t hear if he (Jerome

Bettis) called heads or tails.”

So what is a side judge? “Basically, I’m about 20 yards downfield taking

care of the sidelines,” Hayes said. “I keep track of the pass

interferences, hands to the face, out of bounds plays, traps on punts,

things like that.”

In honor of his solid work, Hayes has been named to the playoff

officiating crews the past three seasons and looks to make it four in a

row this season.

“If you make to a playoff crew, that means that you get to keep your job

the following year,” Hayes said. “We get graded on every play of every

game, so you have to be at your best every single minute you’re out

there. You start wandering from your focus and bad things start

happening.”

Hayes got into the NFL just like a player would; by earning it.

After spending time in the high school and community college ranks, Hayes

spent 13 years in the Pac-10 Conference in the NCAA.

“I never even thought about the NFL,” Hayes said. “I was content doing

the NCAAs when someone asked if I had ever applied to the NFL. I ended up

applying and I was fortunate enough to make it.”

What Hayes is best known for around OCC, however is the success that he

and his co-coach Mauricio Claure have generated for OCC’s Men’s soccer

team.

There’s only one small problem.

“I’ve never played one second of soccer in my life,” Hayes admitted.

“Over the years, I’ve been an intense student of the game, so I have the

strategies and ‘Xs and Os’ of the game, while Mauricio has the years of

playing experience.

T orn cartilage, ruptured ligaments, a chipped bone, as well

as various other tattered tissue, would hardly be considered

precious mementos of ones college experience.But for Bryan

Luxembourger, the most decorated football player in Costa Mesa High

history, the aforementioned maladies did little to sour him on his four

years at Villanova University.Even if I had to go through exactly the

same things, Id still do it again, said the former Wildcat linebacker,

whose promising collegiate gridiron career was derailed by enough

calamity to convert the most passionate positive thinker.It was tough and

there may have been a point where I wondered if I was doing

something wrong, Luxembourger recalled of his myriad injuries. But I saw

a lot of my teammates get injured too, including one who lost a shot at

the NFL when he blew out his knee my sophomore year. When you see things

like that, its hard to feel sorry for yourself. Football didnt work out

for me, but I look at the things I do have, like an education from an

incredible school that I wouldnt have had the recourses to attend without

a scholarship. And I have a lot of lifetime friendships.In addition to

his communications degree, Luxembourger,

thanks to relentless rehabilitation, somehow managed to return

from the suburban Philadelphia campus with his health.Between the

time he captured CIF Southern Section Division VIII, Newport Mesa

District and Pacific Coast League Player of the Year honors as a senior

offensive guard and middle linebacker, and his college graduation, he

endured two knee surgeries, another on his shoulder, and a debilitating

lung infection. And those were just the major

malfunctions.Every time football season came around, it seemed like

something was hurting, or I was struggling with some rehab, he said. My

body just didnt seem to want to cooperate.Prompted to forego his final

season of eligibility after the most serious of his injuries (torn

anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments, a torn

medial capsule and a chipped fibula when his left knee was rolled up on

while blocking on a kick return his redshirt junior season),

Luxembourger spent a year working for a commercial film

company in Philadelphia.But, a desire to be closer to his family, most

notably his 18-month-old niece Renee, lured him back to

Southern California last month.Im doing the job search right now and Im

looking at a number of fields.Luxembourger, 24, enjoyed his film

production work and would like to do more of the same in Hollywood. I

would eventually like to be a producer, he said.Producing was his stock

in trade for the Mesa football program, for which he was a

three-year varsity starter.He was All-CIF as a guard his junior year,

then spearheaded what most considered the programs benchmark season as a

senior in 1993.With Luxembourger opening holes up front, the Mustangs

scored a then-school and district record 400 points and wingback Binh

Runaway Tran motored for more than half of his 4,333 career rushing

yards, still a Newport-Mesa record.It was on defense, however, where

the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Luxembourger made his biggest impact, literally.

He repeatedly removed opposing ball carriers from their upright position

and his penchant for big hits created more than one self-inflicted

concussion.His dominance between the hash marks helped the Mustangs earn

the schools only outright league championship. With Luxembourger

tattooing his No. 64 to anyone with a different colored jersey,

Myron Millers Mustangs won three playoff games en route to the CIF

Division VIII title game. They were defeated, 44-6, by PCL

runner-up Trabuco Hills in the championship game to finish

9-3-2. But the three playoff wins equaled the total the school had

produced in 33previous campaigns.Those were

wonderful times, the latest member of the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame

recalled. Our seniors had played together since we were little and we had

some talented juniors who filled in some gaps.Luxembourgers is one of two

football jersey numbers retired at Mesa (Trans No. 1 is the other), but

such athletic accolades dont garner his greatest gratification.Getting a

scholarship and getting my education is the biggest thing Ive done and

the thing of which Im most proud, he said.”Mo (Mauricio) is just an

unbelievable coach for us,” Hayes continued. “He grew up with the game

and he likes competing with the guys during the practices, while I try to

help out from an overall sideline perspective. It really works out

because the players see our philosophies from two different angles.”

Perhaps one of the most dominant eras in all of community college

athletics came from 1988-91 when Claure and Hayes guided the Bucs to

four-straight conference titles, four-straight State playoff appearances

and two State Championships.

“We had a bunch of guys on those clubs that knew how to score,” Hayes

said. “There’s not too many pure goal scorers out there and we had a few

during that time. They were a hard-nosed group that hated to lose and

would not accept losing.”

A Santa Barbara native, Hayes graduated from San Marcos High in 1967

before receiving his degree from Princeton University in 1971.

Hayes furthered his education with his Master’s degree from UCLA in 1974,

followed by earning his doctorate from UCLA in 1976.

Hayes and his wife, Maggie also have two athletic children. Katie, 17, is

a junior at Newport Harbor High and competes in field hockey, while Andy,

8, plays soccer, flag football and baseball.

Hayes and Claure’s record is 135-82-47 record, with eight state

championship appearances.

However, there has been a drought of playoff appearances for the Pirates

the last few years, something that the coaches have addressed. “The

easiest thing in the world to do is blame the players,” Hayes said.

“After last year’s disappointing season, we sat down and figured out that

we needed help on our coaching staff to take some of the burdens off Mo

and myself. This year, we’ve doubled our staff and that should help out a

lot.”