The Voice of Charger Basketball fell silent earlier this month.
A lifetime Hillsdale resident, Hillsdale College graduate, longtime radio announcer for WCSR, and active agent in local politics, Parke Hayes, 67, passed away on Jan. 10.
Hayes was, in the words of one WCSR colleague, “the consummate multitasker” – a man of many hats who moved fluidly between the college and the city.
Born at Hillsdale Hospital on April 7, 1946, Hayes grew up in Hillsdale and attended Hillsdale Community Schools before moving up the hill for college.
He pursued his interest in sports journalism early on. During his senior year of college, he simultaneously worked as The Collegian’s sports editor, WCSR news editor? broadcaster, and assistant sports publicity director for the college.
Besides editing The Collegian’s sports section, he also wrote regularly for it, including a weekly column titled, “Short Hops.” Writing at the end of the relatively unsuccessful 1967 football season, Hayes wrote this:
“Wanted: One quarterback who can throw accurately most of the time and has, or can secure a SPIRIT MACHINE. Material and rah-rah are two things you have to have to win football games and the Big Blue didn’t have them this year. It’s just that simple, leaving all the technical aspects aside.”
Hayes graduated in 1967 with a political science degree and began working full time at WCSR – which he would do for the next 33 years.
In the late ’60s, Hayes and current general manager of WCSR Mike Flynn shared an apartment together for several months, the two working different shifts at the radio station
“We were the original ‘Odd Couple,’” Flynn said. “He was Felix. He was the neat one.”
Citing the long hours Hayes worked, Flynn praised his colleague’s work ethic.
“Parke was the consummate multitasker,” Flynn said. “He could do several things at once, do all of them well, and get them all done.”
Hayes was also a sports fanatic – for Detroit teams but especially Charger basketball and football.
He broadcast hundred of Hillsdale games and matches over the course of his career, including the 1980-’81 NAIA basketball finals, the1985 NAIA track and field championship, and the 1985 national football championship.
In 1982, the college hired Hayes to be the public address announcer at football games, a role he held until 2010.
From the early ’80s on, Hayes also worked for the college on the hill proper as a lecturer in broadcasting. He also coordinated internships for students.
Sports Information Director Brad Monastiere said Hayes’ induction into the Hillsdale College Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 was “a no-brainer.”
“He possessed so much of our history just within himself,” Monastiere said. “It’s sad that that’s gone, but he is so fondly remembered and thought of. He is a very, very integral part of history of the last 50 years of athletics here.”
He was also an integral part of the city’s history. An abbreviated list of the public offices he held includes: charter member of the Hillsdale Exchange Club, a 40-year board member of the Hillsdale Intermediate School District, several terms as city clerk, district 1 county commissioner, the Hillsdale Community Health Center advisory board, and many others.
“I think we would all be hard-pressed to find someone who was involved in as many community activities as Parke,” said Hillsdale City Manager Linda Brown.
Hayes bridged the divide between the city and college effortlessly. In the later part of his life, he received many civic and collegiate honors including the Elks Distinguished Citizen Award, the GLIAC Media Service Award, and the Tower Award from the college for leadership and service to the college.
When the Hillsdale ISD completed construction of their administration building in 2007, they named it after Hayes.
“He was one of the few people who integrated himself in a strong way in both the college and the city,” Monastiere said.
More than 350 people gathered at the First Presbyterian Church of Hillsdale on Jan. 25 for Hayes’ funeral.
“Though he was weakened in body, Parke Hayes was one of the strongest personalities I’ve ever known,” Rev. Patti Beckman said. “This room, filled to overflowing, bears witness to that.”
-Chris McCaffery contributed to this report.
