WKU Football: Remembering Cody Hughes
Yesterday, the WKU Football family lost a member as former Hilltopper Offensive Lineman Cody Hughes (2006–09) passed away at the age of…
Yesterday, the WKU Football family lost a member as former Hilltopper Offensive Lineman Cody Hughes (2006–09) passed away at the age of 32. We are saddened by the loss by Hughes and wanted to remember his legacy by sharing some of his thoughts on the man and player that Hughes was. Here are some thoughts from our WKU Football alums on staff.
Matt McCay- Student Equipment Manager (2009–2014)
My heart is beyond sad right now. I just saw an article referring that former 2009 team captain (yes the 0–12 year) Cody Hughes, had passed away. My mind is spinning and my heart is hurting.
In a time when death and disease are being hyper-focused on, maybe this feels like normal news to you, but this is a Topper gridiron brother to me.
Why does another football brother have to die an early death? I know of several now, and it just sucks. Why?
Cody Hughes was an awesome dude. I only knew him for a year, but that guy was class. He was a little weird and intense in some moments, but he was a hairy, bowling ball-shaped teddy bear, man.
I can’t speak to everything Cody ever did, but I can speak to what I witnessed in 2009, and we can talk about his obvious accomplishments at WKU.
This guy walked on from a high school in the state of Florida on a whim. He was a weightlifting champion, benching over 400 pounds. He was also on the podium for the shot-put event in high school, as well, throwing for over 56 feet and placing third.
But he was also 6’0”, undersized (his whole career under 300 lb), and short, stocky limbs. Maybe the short limbs explains the bench press: If you’ve only gotta go 20 inches, sure you can bench more!
His head coach in high school was a former player for Offensive Line Coach (now head coach at EKU) Walter Wells, so he turned him on to WKU, Wells watched his film, recruited him to walk on, and the rest is history.
Cody quickly earned respect, a spot, playing time, and a scholarship. Playing guard for his first four years (redshirt and three on the field), he graded out in the 80s and 90s his entire career.
For those that don’t know, that’s great.
For his final year, he moved to center out of necessity due to multiple injuries and graduation to the crop of centers before him. He was named team captain, something I’m certain was a huge honor for him.
But he was so much more than just a good player and team leader. The story behind who Cody was is the best part.
This guy was such a team-first guy. He was all about camaraderie later in his career. According to Coach Elson and Wells in some earlier articles about Cody, they had to calm him down because he worked too hard. He was so bat poop crazy intense that he came across like a maniac. He was so far from lazy that he needed a little bit of a break every once in a while.
Sounds like Walt Wells, Jr., to me. Chill out, bro.
There’s no question he worked hard. Not that I really analyzed this, but being an equipment manager, you have access to useless information like whose laundry had the worst stank, mainly because they’d fling it through the laundry chute into your face heading out the stadium.
But Cody was always one of the worst. Straight-up stankalicious. It had to be the mane of body hair. In all seriousness, he was the hardest working guy out there and it showed.
He was also an absolute warrior. He battled some serious injuries in his last few years, including his lower legs basically being held together by tape.
He had tape all up and down his legs trying to protect him from this issue and that. He was always wincing coming off the field, battling some other nag.
Linemen would say that’s life in the trenches. Well, yeah but Cody sought that out like no one else: He went looking for somebody to light up. Some would call him a little bit nasty. Totally reckless.
Speaking of nasty, one game he ate his own vomit because he “needed the energy”. That’s how intense this dude was.
But behind that bowling/wrecking ball on the field was the guy who’d walk up to the equipment room door and ask how everybody was doing.
“’Preciate what y’all do, fellas.”
“Y’all keep this place running.”
“’Preciate ya, big dawg.”
He was just a person that loved people and saw something deeper than just the person in front of them. He saw the heart.
He ranks right up there on any list of good, approachable people at WKU Football:
He’s right there with Jack Doyle, Myke Patterson, Coach Lance “Papa Gidgy” Guidry, former Head of Equipment Mark Harris, Butch “Coach G” Gilbert, and WKU Hall of Famer Bill “Doc E” Edwards.
All solid people and Cody was in that group of countless individuals at WKU Football that made my time there great. I was a lowly equipment manager, but people like Cody made you feel something different.
If this quote doesn’t sum up who Cody Hughes was, what possibly could?
“I just want to be in a position where I can influence the character of individuals,” Hughes said. “And not just the task they perform but what’s inside of them and the morals, values and how they treat people. I think coaches have the best opportunity to do that.”
Who says it that way? That goal is exactly what Cody Hughes was accomplishing since he left Western. He was a wrestling coach and an assistant football coach at several schools in Florida.
Cody ultimately lived his dream, changing lives, encouraging kids to participate in sports, and molding not only their sports lives but their moral compass, as well.
Shout out to one of the greats in every category.
RIP, Cody Hughes.
‘Preciate ya, Big Dawg.
Devin Stewart- Student Trainer (2006–2011)
When I look back on my time at WKU, (2006–2011) there are several people I think about. Whether they were crazy, funny, good people, they made an impression on me. Cody was definitely one of those people. Cody was a genuinely caring and nice person who legitimately cared how you were doing, and it makes the news of his passing a gut punch for sure.
One of my earliest memories of Cody was when we played Florida in the Swamp, with Tim Tebow (I still hate him because of this game) who at the time was ranked number one in the nation. This team was loaded, and I was packing water up and down the sideline for the Hilltoppers team as a student trainer. Tebow was scrambling on every play, and he was such a punk, he would purposefully run through the benches on our sideline. Knocking our equipment off tables, cups, coolers, etc. It wasn’t like he did this once, no Tebow did it for at least five or six plays in a row. Finally, he comes running toward our sideline yet again; however, he doesn’t know what’s about to hit him. Waiting on the sideline, was a 300 lb offensive lineman named Cody Hughes who was tired of his crap. He hit Tebow smack dab right in the chest knocking him to the ground. Out came the flags, and the unsportsmanlike penalties and Tebow runs back to his sideline with his tail between his legs. Pretty sure every one of the players (who were there) cheered and still remember it to this day.
I don’t remember the “eating vomit” story that Matt told, but I do know that Cody was a strong person, inside and out. Everyone struggles during their time at a college or university, students and athletes alike. But Cody’s was a little harder, he lost a parent while he was on the Hill. I can not possibly imagine how hard that must’ve been for him. But he kept being the nice person he was through that unimaginable trauma. He had an unshakeable faith during that time and it showed through his actions and deeds. I know he struggled, but he had an adopted family at WKU that loved him, and I think he knew that.
Cody was a little unhinged but you have to, to have the work ethic that he did. I remember once when he took his helmet off and head butted his helmet bout five or six times. His head started gushing, the coach started yelling “WTF are you doing?” and he got several stitches later that afternoon. Why did he do it? He missed an assignment on that play.
Or the time he had one of the other players trim his back hair cause he couldn’t reach it. I’ve never felt more sorry for a janitor in my life. If you’re wondering how much hair, take a saint Bernard, shave it with clippers and that’s basically the amount of hair Cody had on his body.
Cody wasn’t just a player at WKU, he worked for the Strength and Conditioning department after he finished playing football. He was just as committed to the work there as he was to his time on the field. IF it were possible, Cody did get a little nicer when he transitioned over to coaching. He would come into the Training room and talk, he would legitimately ask how you were doing. And not just as a greeting, but as a friend. You knew that Cody would help you no matter what was going on. Whether he could help or just listen to your problem. He was a caring person who cared about people, RIP Cody, rest easy my friend.