2026 Inductee Jimmy Hayden

As we begin 2026 we are recognizing each of our Hall of Famers with short bios put together by some of our esteemed alumni and spearheaded by fellow Hall of Famer Kurt Kuhn.  Today we recognize Jimmy Hayden.

Jimmy Hayden enters the Virginia Tech Hall of Fame as a standout competitor and leader whose influence stretched far beyond the scoreboard. He played attack during his Freshman and Sophomore years. As a Sophomore, he was voted to be the team Captain and Treasurer and remained in those roles throughout his Junior and Senior years. Starting in his Junior year and throughout the remainder of his career, he switched positions to midfield where he played on the 1^st middies, faced-off, and played on both the man-up and man-down units. 

The USILA (college lacrosse’s governing body at the time) recognized Jimmy after the 1981 season when they selected him to be a 1^st Team Tri-State Conference midfielder. (VPI was a member of the Tri-State Conference at that time.)

After graduating, Jimmy went on to play lacrosse for the Alexandria Lacrosse Club and returned to Tech to play in multiple VT Alumni games, including the two where the Alumni won! 

In addition, he became the first Varsity head lacrosse coach at Herndon High School where he coached for 10 years. He also coached youth league for 20 years, including coaching his four children, all of whom played competitive college lacrosse.