 On August 27, 2008, Hayes was named as one of two senior candidates for the 2009 Hall of Fame election.On Saturday, January 31, 2009, he was selected as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009.The next day Lucille Hester released a letter she said he had drafted three years before he died, on October 29, 1999, in case he did not live to see his induction.