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), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

in the 1967 NFL/AFL Draft and played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

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 historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of studen ...

, 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, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

for the

Jackson State Tigers The Jackson State Tigers and Lady Tigers represent Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi, in NCAA intercollegiate athletics. Conference affiliation Jackson State University's athletic teams participate in the Southwestern Athletic Confe ...

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 1967 NFL/AFL Draft . 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 athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates in t ...

(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 the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, 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, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

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 People from Columbus, Mississippi Coaches of American football from Mississippi Players of American football from Mississippi African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople Deaths from diabetes