After winning gold medals at the 1964 Summer Olympics, he played as a split end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys (for 11 seasons).

Hayes was enshrined in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in January 2009.

Hayes is the second Olympic gold medalist to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after Jim Thorpe.

In times of racial segregation laws, their achievement went basically unnoticed, until 50 years later when they were recognized as one of the best teams in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) history.

Hayes was a highly recruited athlete, and accepted a football scholarship from Florida A&M University, a historically black college, where he excelled in track and field.

In 1963, although he never used a traditional sprinter form, he broke the 100-yard dash record with a time of 9.1, a mark that would not be broken for eleven years (until Ivory Crockett ran a 9.0 in 1974).

At the 1964 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Hayes won the 100m and in doing so tied the then world record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 seconds, even though he was running in lane 1 which had, the day before, been used for the 20 km racewalk and this badly damaged the cinder track.

[5] Jocelyn Delecour, France's anchor leg runner, famously said to Paul Drayton before the relay final that, "You can't win, all you have is Bob Hayes."

The next to surpass Hayes at a low altitude Olympics was Carl Lewis in 1984 when he won in 9.99, some 20 years later (though Hasely Crawford equaled the time in 1976).

Later, in the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins match-up, Hayes caught nine passes for 246 yards (a franchise record until Miles Austin broke it with a 250-yard performance on October 11, 2009, against the Kansas City Chiefs).

Spreading the defense out in hopes of containing Hayes allowed the Cowboys' talented running game to flourish, rushers Don Perkins, Calvin Hill, Walt Garrison and Duane Thomas taking advantage of the diminished coverage at the line of scrimmage.

Later in his career, as defenses improved playing zone and the bump and run was refined, Hayes' value was as a decoy rather than a deep threat.

In 1965 he also started a streak (1965–1966) of seven consecutive games with at least a touchdown catch, which still stands as a Cowboys record shared with Franklin Clarke (1961–1962), Terrell Owens (2007) and Dez Bryant (2012).

[15] On September 18, 2002, Hayes died in his hometown of Jacksonville of kidney failure, after battling prostate cancer and liver ailments.

The decision was marred by controversy, with many claiming that the Hall of Fame Senior Selection Committee had a bias against members of the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams.

[10] The next day Lucille Hester, who claimed to be Hayes's sister,[22] released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction.

I love you all.Delivered by Hester in front of hundreds and a national cable television audience, the moment was described as "... one of the most compelling and touching scenes the Hall of Fame has seen.

"[23] Shortly after, it was discovered that the supposedly signed letter was printed in the Calibri font, which was not released to the public until five years after Hayes' death.

[24] Some family members disputed Lucille Hester's claim to be related to Bob, and took steps to ensure she was not part of the Hall of Fame ceremony.