He 'loved' Barry Sanders as a Lions staffer, and Jocko Hughes still loves Detroit today

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25-05-2025

It was the summer of 1999 and the national sports world was becoming familiar with a name that Detroiters had known for decades — Allen 'Jocko' Hughes.
At the time, news media outlets from across the country were searching for answers to explain why future Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders had suddenly retired from professional football after 10 superlative seasons with the Detroit Lions.
Suddenly, the name of a jovial man who had long ago mastered the art of making friends while growing up in one of Detroit's early Black neighborhoods was appearing in newspapers nationwide, all because Hughes had become one of Sanders' closest friends during the superstar back's years with the Lions.
'A lot of people may say they know Barry Sanders, but in order to know Barry, you have to love Barry,' Hughes, the Lions' former director of security, explained. 'Barry is a very, very special person, and his father (the late William Sanders) was a special man.
'Barry and I just hit it off from the beginning when I started working for the Lions (in 1995). Barry took a liking to me, and I took a liking to him, and Barry trusted me.'
Indeed, for readers of the Detroit Free Press and other news media sources during August 1999, parts of the often-quoted message that Hughes delivered directly from Sanders saying: 'He (Sanders) gave it a lot of thought and he wants to go out on top' was hard for many Lions fans to swallow. But for those who were already familiar with the deliverer of the news, there was no doubt that the words had actually been spoken by Sanders because Hughes' reputation as a trustworthy, loyal, helping friend was already legendary.
'Listen, for Detroiters, it was not surprising that Jocko was that close to Barry and other players on the Lions because he was their friend, protector and a father figure. And Jocko has been someone that people have drawn strength from dating back to when he was a standout athlete at Miller High School in the 1950s,' said Randy Henry, a former longtime producer/director for WDIV-TV Local 4, who also chronicled the history of Miller High School in a documentary he produced for the Detroit Cable Commission.
'The students that attended Miller (located at 2322 DuBois, in what was then the historic Black Bottom neighborhood) were a part of a close-knit community where people cared for each other, and when those students graduated they never forgot where they came from. My mother and aunties were a part of that community, and when my uncle died, Jocko donated a considerable sum of money to help with the burial. That was a hard ask for our family, but not a hard give for Jocko because on all the levels and places that he traveled after Miller High School, he took his community with him and has always been ready to wrap his arms around people to help.
"Jocko is an iconic person who is still thought about often around town today because of how he has lived his life.'
During the afternoon of May 20, while speaking from his daughter's home in Memphis, Tennessee, the 87-year-old Hughes was in good spirits as he reflected on his life. And as it turns out, a man once described as 'the strongest boardman in the league' in a story announcing the Free Press' All City basketball team in 1955, largely attributes his strength and the 'good life" he lived in Detroit to lessons he learned daily in a cozy space as a Miller student before anything resembling 'play' was allowed to take place.
'Every day, before practice, he would sit us down and talk to us about life,' Hughes recalled, while explaining practices conducted by Will Robinson at Miller, where Hughes was not only All State in basketball, but also a top performer on the football and track and field teams. 'Will Robinson (head basketball and football coach) was like a mother and father to many of the young men on his teams, and for a half hour or more he would talk to us about life. And I took in everything he said — it inspired me to do more.'
After graduating from Miller in June 1955, Hughes would take the lessons he learned from Robinson to places like the University of Detroit, which gave him a basketball scholarship. And later the University of Detroit Mercy, where he earned a degree in law enforcement.
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Hughes' journey also included a 28½-year career with the Detroit Police Department, where he retired with the rank of Third Deputy Chief. And along the way, while assisting the Detroit Police Athletic League (PAL), Hughes worked closely with another person with Detroit Lions connections who shared Hughes' desire to inspire Detroit youths. That distinguished gentleman was former Detroit PAL executive director and Pro Football Hall of Famer Dick 'Night Train' Lane.
'Most kids just need some direction, so I had a wonderful, beautiful experience working with kids through PAL," said Hughes, who was the beneficiary of a glowing letter of recommendation from Robinson when Hughes was seeking to join the Detroit Police Department during the 1960s, at a time when the city's Black population was underrepresented on the police force. 'I always wanted to help someone and I was able to help through the Police Department and PAL. I only did what I thought was right by being honest, fair, truthful and genuine.'
The personal qualities that defined Hughes as a member of the Detroit Police Department also caught the eye of another legendary Detroiter, Emanuel Steward, the driving force behind Detroit's Kronk Boxing Gym. Steward wanted to put a person he could trust near his prized protege, Thomas Hearns, as Hearns was in the early stages of a meteoric rise that led to six world boxing titles. And while Hughes could not assist Hearns in the boxing ring, he did have something to offer that the late Steward believed was equally valuable.
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'Emanuel cared deeply about Tommy as a person and he just wanted me to help him keep Tommy on the right track,' explained Hughes, who served as Chief of Operations/Security Director for Emanuel Steward's Kronk Boxing Team from 1981-87. 'Tommy 'Hit Man' Hearns had a big heart and big fists. But I just enjoyed being around him. When he would come by my home I would show him my old clippings from when I played ball. I told him that I did some boxing too, and he said: 'You can't box!'
'I couldn't ask for a better relationship than I had with Barry Sanders, Emanuel Steward and Tommy Hearns.'
As a part of Steward's boxing enterprises, fight fans became accustomed to seeing Hughes enter the ring with Hearns for some of the biggest events in the history of the sport, which was the case on Sept. 16, 1981, when Hearns squared off for the first time against Sugar Ray Leonard in Las Vegas. One person who took note of those Hughes sightings from venues across the globe was Larry Lee. And when Lee had the chance, he brought Hughes to the Detroit Lions following Hughes' retirement from the Detroit Police Department.
'I love me some Jocko,' declared Lee, the Lions former vice president of football operations. 'I knew in my heart of hearts that he would be the right man for the job. More than the security element of his job, from day one, he became a father figure and a grandfather figure for all the players. He was the perfect hire; his personality was great for all of the young men; and bringing Jocko on board was one of the best things I did while working for the organization."
Lee says that just like the relationships Hughes established with the players, Lee, too, also shared a great deal with Hughes, who would go on to serve as the Lions director of security from 1995-2013.
However, Lee confided that he knows there are still many things about Hughes' Detroit journey that he still is learning. And some of those stories are likely to be told on Memorial Day, during a relaxing day in Memphis that his daughter Cassandra has planned for him, which will include some 'Memphis barbecue and fellowship' with native Detroiters Cal and Melba Vinson. But despite the more than 700 miles that will be separating Hughes from his hometown, the proud father of three accomplished adult children (Cassandra, Allen and the late Calvin Hughes), nine grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren made it crystal clear earlier in the week that he will be thinking about Detroit often as well, which is the norm for him.
'Detroit is where I was born and raised. And Detroit is where I was educated,' said Hughes, who made up for the loss of his mother (Minnie Weldon) when he was 5 years old and the loss of his father (Allen Hughes) — who also is responsible for his famous 'Jocko' nickname — when he was 24, by never considering anyone he has ever met as a stranger. 'I'm always going to say that Detroit is my home. And I have nothing but love for the people of the city.'
Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city's neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at [e-mail] or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Allen 'Jocko' Hughes had bond with Barry Sanders, Tommy Hearns