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At FCHS, Hayworth was, in his own words, \u201ca bit all over the field,\u201d but things came into focus his senior year when he was the starting tailback in an undefeated season. He made the all-district team and was recruited by coaches Phillip Fulmer and Ken Donahue for the University of Tennessee. At Tennessee, Hayworth played for four years (was not redshirted), was team captain, and made second team ALLSEC. Coach Johnny Majors and his staff taught more than football; they taught the game of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think football and life go together. Coach Majors told us, \u2018I\u2019m not only going to teach you about the game of football, because every one of you in this room is going to be a professional in the game of life. I\u2019m going to teach you how to persevere and be the best athlete you can be in this football game. I\u2019m going to teach you to be the best player and athlete you can be in the game of life.\u2019\u201d Hayworth added. \u201cI\u2019ve been mentored on the relationship between football and the game of life ever since I\u2019ve been in the game.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the 1990 NFL draft, Hayworth was a seventh-round pick by the Detroit Lions, where he played six seasons as a left linebacker on the team considered the best in Lions\u2019 history. The Lions were four-time NFL central division champions during this time, and Hayworth played in three playoff games, and the NFC championship game in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following his NFL career, Hayworth played three years in arena league football. Like most professional football players, the desire to continue to play never dies – it just changes its field position. Hayworth went on to the University of the South as an assistant coach for six seasons and six seasons as an assistant coach at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. He came closer to home as head coach at Grundy County High School in 2018. Finally, in 2021, Hayworth came full circle, back as an assistant coach and defensive coach of FCHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI still feel like I\u2019m in a fairy tale. It feels great because I\u2019ve been trying to get back to have a chance to give back. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve wanted to do since the very first day I walked out of the pro program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walking out of the pro program was the hardest season of the game of football for Hayworth, but the game of life goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve noticed, in the hardest times of my life, when things got rough for me, if it wasn\u2019t for the training we were put through with Johnny and his supporting staff, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d have made it. The training, love, and mentorship they showed made you want to try to exemplify them and be like them, so you get back into the game and give that back. Even if it\u2019s to those who may not be fortunate enough to attend college and possibly professional football, because everyone will be part of the game of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n FCHS gives him plenty of opportunities to give back, both on and off the field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m extremely proud to be able to be a part of a team that is so talented. And it\u2019s not only the football team but getting to be with all the kids. Hopefully I can mentor just one of them in the game of life because all of them will play that game. If I can help coach that whole student body, if I can reach one of them on how to be successful, how to get up when life knocks you down, how to deal with the peaks and the mountains \u2013 if I can just reach one of them. To feel like I\u2019ve had that opportunity to do that and come back again, I\u2019ve had a blessed life. I just thank the Lord for the opportunity to be where I\u2019m at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And to every student walking the FCHS halls, Hayworth\u2019s game of life heart for them is the same. \u201cFollow your dreams, because I have lived and followed my dream. I have been very, very, very blessed. I believed I could reach my dreams with God\u2019s blessing and a lot of hard work. And whatever you do in life \u2013 how you love, how you work, how you play, how you hug someone, how you love your family, whatever it is you do \u2013 do it every day to the fullest, like it\u2019s your last time, \u2018cause one day you\u2019re gonna be right.\u2019\u201d GN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" VROOM, VROOM. He raced forward without thinking of his surroundings, not into oncoming traffic but into the view of the Tennessee\/LSU game. A quick swat on his young behind sent him driving away from the small black and white TV they\u2019d gathered around. The noise of the fans took over the room. Suddenly he was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSC00724-2-1024x683.jpg\")