Robert E. "Judge" Hughes (November 17, 1944 – July 31, 2013) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player and coach. He was selected by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

in the

1967 NFL/AFL Draft The 1967 NFL/AFL draft was conducted March 14–15, 1967, at the Gotham Hotel in New York City. It was the first common draft between the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL), part of the AFL–NFL merger agreeme ...

and played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) with the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

in 1967 and 1969. Hughes served as the head football coach at his alma mater,

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a Public university, public Historically Black colleges and universities, historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and ...

, from 1999 to 2002, compiling a record of 30–15.

College career

Hughes played as a

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

for the Jackson State Tigers and was named to the JSU All-Century team in 2011; he is also in the university Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Hughes was drafted by the

in the

. He played for the

in 1967 and 1969.

Coaching career

Hughes was an assistant football coach and recruiting coordinator for the Jackson State Tigers before being named head coach in 1999. He served in that position for four seasons. In his first season, Hughes led Jackson State to a 9–3 record, winning the

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United St ...

(SWAC) East Division title and an appearing in the inaugural

SWAC Championship Game The SWAC Championship Game, officially the Cricket Wireless SWAC Championship Game, is an American college football game that is held annually on the first Saturday in December by the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) to determine its foot ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, which the Tigers lost 31–30. In each of the following three seasons, Hughes' Tigers finished with a 7–4 record. Hughes' overall record at Jackson state was 30–15, with a .667 winning percentage.

Personal life and death

Hughes and his wife Joyce had three children. He died in 2013 from complications of

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Judge 1944 births 2013 deaths American football defensive linemen Atlanta Falcons players Jackson State Tigers football coaches Jackson State Tigers football players Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from Columbus, Mississippi Coaches of American football from Mississippi African-American coaches of American football 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen Diabetes-related deaths