A legendary versatile local athlete out of Central High who was later the elected Kent County Sheriff, Hugh “Hughie” McNeal Blacklock was an All-Pro offensive tackle in the NFL, played at Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) from 1913 to 1916, played in the unique 1919 Rose Bowl with a military all-star team, and played for the NFL’s Chicago Bears and three other professional teams in a seven-year pro career.
Grand Rapids Press archives reveal a high school football star running back and defensive lineman, local ice hockey player and track and field star who in some track meets competed in several events and outscored the opposing teams by himself. The archives also note that as a first-year starter on the offensive and defensive lines at MAC he played every minute of every game and starred in collegiate track and field, too. He was selected as an All-American football player in 1916, his final college season, and then served in the U.S. Navy where he played on touring football and ice hockey teams.
The 1919 Rose Bowl, known at the time as the Tournament East-West Football Game, was played on Jan. 1, 1919, at Tournament Park in Pasadena, Calif. It is recognized as the fifth Rose Bowl Game. With World War I just ending and college team rosters depleted due to military service, the game was played with teams from the Mare Island Marines of California and the Great Lakes Navy from Waukegan, Ill., as approved by President Woodrow Wilson.
Blacklock, at 6-foot, 220 pounds and lineman size in that era, was on the winning Great Lakes Navy team (17-0) with legendary Chicago Bears player and coach George Halas, who was MVP of the game with a touchdown and interception. The two teamed up again in the pros. Blacklock played tackle, guard and sometimes center, first with the Decatur Staleys, then the Chicago Staleys, then the Bears and finally the Brooklyn Lions.
When not playing football, Blacklock worked in Grand Rapids as an upholsterer, a truck driver and a deputy sheriff. From 1928 through 1934 he worked as captain of the guards at the Grand Rapids National Bank before being elected Sheriff of Kent County. He served through the 1940s and was credited with modernizing and enlarging the department and leading an effort to build a new county jail.
Born on Jan. 1, 1893, in East Grand Rapids, he died of cancer in May of 1954. He was 61.