[Insert Rufus Mayes story] On day one of his course, Woody made it clear that class began at 8:00, not 8:01, or 8:02, "...and by 8:00 I don't mean you're walking through the door as the bell rings. I mean that at 8:00 you're in your seat, your notebook is open, you have a pen or pencil in your hand, and you're ready to learn."
Before we could even give out a disgruntled sigh, he added, "I know the people who are going to get an A or a B in this class. They're the ones sitting in the first three rows."
Week six and I'm sitting in row two, staring straight ahead. The bell hasn't rung yet, but we can hear Hayes' hard leather shoes smacking on the terrazzo floor. There's a scrapping of chair legs on the floor, a loud "ommmmmphhhhh," the muffled sound of two guys wrestling, one of whom screams, "Hey, that's my chair!" I turn around just in time to see Rufus Mayes do a 'clean and jerk' using Mike Sensibaugh as a bar bell, lifting him up out of his 3rd row chair and placing him in a 4th row chair before taking the 3rd row seat.
Woody walks in, bell goes off, and he looks at Sensibaugh, "Mike, it looks like you need to get here in time to sit in the second row."[/Rufus Mayes story]