Citizen Of The Year Award

About Laird Hayes

Laird was born October 3, 1949 in Santa Barbara, California and now lives in Newport Beach. He is supported by his wife, Maggie, and daughter Katie and son Andy. His grandchildren are Lily, Chloe and Jack.

He attended San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara where he played football, basketball and baseball. After, he attended Princeton University where he was a catcher on the baseball team and played freshman football. He went on to earn his Masters and Doctorate in Higher Education from UCLA.

At Orange Coast College, he has served as Assistant Dean, Student Affairs; Coast Community College District Director of Community Relations; Professor, Kinesiology and Athletics and Men’s Soccer and Surf Team Coach. He is part of the Emeritus Faculty still teaching Surfing and Ocean Safety.
He also worked at Quarterback and Receiver Camp, LLC serving California, Arkansas, Georgia, Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, South Carolina, Texas) from 1965-2016.

He retired from football in 2018 after 43 years on the field. His officiating career has spanned the decades.

As a NFL Game Official he was a Side Judge 125 from 1995 to 2017 and was appointed to the officiating staff in 1995 retiring in 2018 after 23 seasons including three Super Bowls: XXXVI (2002); XXXVIII (2004); and XLVI (2012); the 2011 AFC Championship game; two Pro Bowls in 2006 and 2015; and 15 wildcard and divisional playoff games.

Since 2020, he has served as an NFL Officials’ Scout where he scouts college and high school officials as prospective NFL game officials.

For College, he has officiated in the Pac-10 (1982-94); small college and community college (1978-1991). He also began officiating high school frosh/soph and junior varsity games in Orange County in 1976 followed by high school varsity games including three CIF Championships and numerous playoffs. He is also a Southeastern, Sun Belt and Southern Conference Film Grader since 2021. In addition, he officiated at high school and college basketball games from 1971 to 1985, umpired baseball for high school and college from 1976 to 1985.

His service to the Community is vast and diverse and can fill volumes.

He was the Newport Beach Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission – January 2014-2023; Newport Beach General Plan Citizens Advisory Committee – November 2022-Present and Newport Beach Police Department Volunteer in Policing – April 2015-present.

Since 2015, he has been a volunteer with the Newport Beach Fire Department Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.) He has served on the Newport Beach Water Quality and Coastal Tidelands Committee – 2012-2013 and was the Volunteer of the Year, Newport Beach Police Department Volunteer in Policing Program – April 2022.

His experience also includes…
• Newport Beach Police Department Citizens’ Police Academy – Fall 2014
• Newport Beach City Council Volunteer Proclamation – February 25, 2020
• Newport Beach Fire Department Fire Ops 101 – September 2018
• Covid-19 Vaccinator Support – Soka University and Orange County Fairground POD’s – Spring 2021
• Leadership Tomorrow Board of Directors 2016-2020
• Leadership Tomorrow Class of 2016
• Share Our Selves (SOS) Foundation Board 2016-2018
• Member, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
• Kingdom Justice Advisory Team, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church 2020
• Special Olympics Orange County Organizing Committee 2015
• Universal Life Ministries
• Mentor – Newport Harbor High School Junior Mentor Program
• Speaker, Santa Ana High School Career Day – 2017-2019
• PGA Golf Tournaments Volunteer Walking Scorer: Hoag Classic (2013-present) and Farmer’s and Genesis Open (2014-present)
• Assistant Editor, California Golf + Travel Magazine – 2020-present
• Orange County Football Officials Association Lifetime Achievement Award – June 2019
• City of Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Hall of Fame
• San Marcos High School Athletic Hall of Fame
• Founding Vice President, National Scholastic Surfing Association 1978
• City of Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame Honor Roll
• Eagle Scout, Santa Barbara CA 1964
• Member, Screen Actors Guild 1975-Present
• Los Angeles Olympic Games Organizing Committee 1982-84
• NAUI Certified SCUBA Diver – August 1970

Another amazing fact about Laird is that he has been to all 50 United States, as well as travel to Antarctica, Bermuda, Botswana, Canada, Caribbean (Cuba, Cayman Islands & Nassau), Central & South America, Easter Island, Galapagos, Israel, Mexico & Baja California and Baja Sur, Palestine, Qatar, South Africa, Western & Eastern Europe , Zimbabwe.