After an impressive high school athletics career at Clarksville High School, Jay Bailey wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps and play college basketball.
After Jay played a season at Vol State Community College and averaged a double-double, but he found there was not a lot of demand for 6-0 power forwards. As a result, Bailey turned to the other sport in which he excelled in high school and transferred to Austin Peay to become, by far, the best football player in Governors' non-scholarship history. He also escaped his brother's own enormous athletic shadow and created his own.
And now Jay joins his brother Trenton Hassell as members of the Austin Peay Athletics Hall of Fame, becoming the first set of brothers to be honored as Hall of Fame members.
As a sophomore and junior, Bailey shared the Governors running back duties. But Bailey certainly made an impact in those seasons. In 2000, he rushed for 736 yards, with a knee injury costing him three late-season games and a potential 1,000-yard season.
Early in his career he showed his worth. On Sept. 23, 2000, the Governors were playing at Valparaiso and were backed up to their own one-yard line after an interception. On second down, Bailey took a handoff right up the middle. By the 15-yard line it was evident that no Crusader defender was going to catch the speedster. When Bailey reached the end zone he not only set Austin Peay's record for the longest touchdown run, but as well became the eighth player in 1-AA/FCS history to score on a 99-yard run.
That was just a precursor for what was to come. After another injury-interrupted junior season, which saw him miss two complete games, Bailey literally saved his best for his final campaign.
Bailey's senior season proved to be spectacular. Â He opened the year by carrying the ball 41 times against Cumberland for 135 yards in a victory. The next week he had 190 yards and two TDs in the Govs road win at Campbellsville.
With the Govs wavering at season's midpoint with a 3-3 record, Bailey took charge down the stretch. In fact, over the next five games he averaged 203 yards per game. He had 207 yards on 26 carries in a road win at Butler and then followed up the next week with 205 yards on a school-record 47 rushing attempts the next week in another road win, this one at Kentucky Wesleyan.
Despite a home loss to Morehead State, Bailey finished with 213 yards and four TDs before carrying the ball 34 times for 191 yards at St. Joseph's in an impressive road victory. He had 201 yards the following week in a home loss to Davidson. He finished off the season with 118 yards against Valparaiso in the season-ending win, allowing APSU to attain its first winning season since 1984.   Â
He owned five of the top six best single-season Pioneer Football League rushing performances, including three straight 200-yard efforts. He ranked No. 1 in I-AA in rushing for total rushing yards (1,687) and average (140.6 ypg) and fourth overall in I-A/AA rushing.
He was chosen the Pioneer Football South Offensive "Player of the Year" in a vote of coaches in leading the Govs to their first winning season (7-5) since 1984. He was APSU's only player to earn either Offensive or Defensive Player of the Year during their five-year membership in that league. Â
And those 1,687 rushing yards set APSU's single-season mark as did his 140.6 yards per game and his 319 rushing attempts. Â In addition, he set the APSU record for single-season rushing TDs (18), with his 108 points that season also setting a school mark.
It was impressive enough for Bailey to be named to the 2002 Sports Network and the Football Gazette's Mid-Major All-American teams. He also earned Associated Press All-American, a rare accomplishment for a non-scholarship player to earn such distinction, as well as being named to the American Football Coaches Association All-American team.
But the local product was more than a tremendous football player. As a senior he was named second-team Verizon Academic All-America.
Despite playing just three seasons, he eclipsed the career rushing mark with 2,992 yards. He also owns the second-best career rushing average per game (103.2 yards per game). His 192 career points rank second best along with his career TDs (32) and rushing TDs (31).
