UNLV defender Hays stars on and off field

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1998 | 11:37 a.m.

Mark Hays has been on a roll.

Three weeks ago at BYU, the senior defensive back from Cerritos College blocked a punt that set up a Rebels touchdown.

A week later against Wyoming, the 5-10, 190-pound Hays intercepted his first Division I-A pass.

And in last weekend's 10-7 loss to SMU at the Cotton Bowl, Hays registered a team high 17 tackles and broke up two passes.

"That's his best game ever here I think," UNLV coach Jeff Horton said. "He just made a ton of plays."

But Hays, who won Compaq's 1997 College Hit of the Year for his tackle on Hawaii's Charles Tharp as a junior, has been ever more impressive off the field.

Hays will graduate this summer with a bachelor's degree in communications. And considering all the obstacles he has had to overcome just to get to college, that may go down as his greatest accomplishment.

Hays, who grew up on he mean, gang-invested streets of North Long Beach, Calif., has basically been on his own since the age of 13.

"My mom, I didn't know her," Hays says. "I had some personal problems with my dad, so when I turned 13, I was on my own."

Hays won't divulge what those personal problems were. But he found himself without any parential supervision from that time on, living with friends who would take him in and, according to Horton, sometimes living by himself in his own apartment during those years.

"I grew up a lot faster than a lot of guys here," Hays said. "I try to tell them all the time not to take things they have for granted."

Like having parents to watch over you.

"It was rough," Hays said. "I know I could have gotten into a lot of trouble if I wanted to. I could have been out doing anything and nobody would have really cared."

But Hays decided he wanted to pursue his dream of playing football. That meant actually going to school each day and staying out of gangs.

"I grew up with a lot of guys who wanted to play football," he said. "But they choose to do gang-banging instead. That was their choice."

Hays moved in with a friend, Jay Young, now a wide receiver at North Texas, and attended Bellflower High School where he was named team MVP twice and was picked to the Long Beach Press-Telegram's Dream Team his senior year.

He then went to nearby Cerritos College where he helped lead the Falcons to a 9-2 record his sophomore year with eight interceptions while earning first team all-Mission Conference honors. Schools like Colorado State, Kansas State and Purdue all recruited Hays, but he choose UNLV for one simple reason.

"When I first came here (on his recruiting trip), I felt welcomed," he said. "The first day I was here, people treated me like they knew me. All my life football had been my family ... the coaches and the players. I don't have a family, but this felt like one."

So even though his team is 0-8 and has had two excruciating losses in a row, Hays maintains a positive outlook.

"He's very level-headed," Horton said. "He's as good as they come. He's the kind of guy we want representing our program."

REBEL NOTES: Horton may not have many wins as UNLV's head football coach but he still has a lot of supporters. A surprisingly large turnout of over 100 boosters showed up at Tuesday's Rebel Football Foundation luncheon at Sam's Town, including just about every head coach in UNLV's athletic department, including basketball coach Bill Bayno, baseball coach Rod Soesbe and national champion golf coach Dwaine Knight. A UNLV spokesman said the turnout was the largest for a football luncheon since 1994, Horton's first year as head coach. "You're afraid there might be only 20, 25 people here," Horton said. "To walk in today and see the crowd ... especially your peers ... I think shows a lot. It shows they believe in what we're trying to do. They know it's a struggle, but they're still behind us." ... "I think the coaches showed up to show support," Bayno said. "I really, truly believe that, regardless of what happens this year, that they're going to turn it around next year." ... Horton said that he had sent films of a key play in Saturday's 10-7 loss to SMU to WAC officies in Denver for closer inspection. UNLV held a 7-3 lead with two minutes left when SMU running back Rodnick Phillips tried to convert on a fourth-and-one at the Mustang 29. SMU got the first down by about three inches. However, film of the play, which Horton screened at the luncheon, show that Phillips not only didn't make it to the 30 before getting tackled, he didn't even make it back to the 29. Had the ball been properly marked, UNLV would have taken over on downs and been able to run out the clock for its first victory in over a year. ... Among those attending Tuesday's gathering was baseball Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers.