Before becoming the tribal chairman, he worked as a pipefitter at General Dynamics Electric Boat and lived in Stonington, Connecticut.
He married Aline Aurore Champoux and held a variety of jobs before running a clam shack called the Sea Mist Haven near the Mystic Seaport.
Hayward's family, however, thought that the land should belong to them, not to an Indian tribe, so they attempted to lay claim to it.
[3] In 1975, Hayward met with Thomas Tureen, the head of the Coalition of Eastern Native Americans (CENA), who helped him initiate a land claim on his family's behalf.
[4] Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso gave state recognition in 1976 to Hayward's group as an Indian organization, which called itself the Western Pequots.
They were represented at the Congressional hearing concerning their proposed settlement bill by Tureen and a lawyer named Jackson King.
[8] Neither of them had any experience in running a business, so Hayward sought out Howard Wilson, a member of the Penobscot tribe and a veteran bingo operator.