| George S. Hughes, played in Cubs' minor leagues, 77
By Martha Bartle, Globe Correspondent, 6/6/2004 If a youth at the hockey rink he ran didn't have skates, George S. Hughes Jr. would go out and buy a pair, no questions asked. "He would help anybody," said his daughter, Barbara of Somerville. "He loved sports and he loved kids." Mr. Hughes, a former minor league outfielder for the Chicago Cubs and patriarch of a family of hockey players, died May 28 of a heart attack and complications from Parkinson's Disease at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington. He was 77. Born in Watertown, Mr. Hughes spent most of his life in Somerville. In 1945, he graduated from Somerville High, where he lettered in basketball, baseball and football. He was drafted into the Army during World War II and served throughout Europe. In 1947, he was discharged. He returned to Somerville and played baseball for the Chicago Cubs' chain of minor league teams. "He was just a sports fanatic," his daughter said. "He loved the competition and he loved the camaraderie. He was a giver, not a taker. He was the kind of player who'd pass the ball to someone he knew would make it rather than take the shot himself." During that time, he met Paula McKenzie , and the two married in 1951. After giving up his baseball career, Mr. Hughes played exhibition games around the country with the Georgia Chain Gang, a softball team that dressed up as prisoners and performed tricks during baseball games. Mr. Hughes took two full-time jobs to support his new family. During the days, he worked for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (formerly the MDC) as a facilities manager at a hockey rink in Belmont. At night he worked as a Middlesex County police officer. "He was the best," his daughter said. "He worked so hard, and he never said no to any of us. He was just so giving." Mr. Hughes was admired by children and adults alike, his daughter said. "All the neighborhood kids used to come here," his daughter said. "He was so unconditional with his love, and he gave people respect. There wasn't a mean bone in his body." In 1964, Mr. Hughes cofounded the Somerville Youth Hockey Association with a group of parents. The league started playing at the Belmont rink until a new rink was built on Somerville Avenue a few years later. He often took his children to the ice rink in Belmont during off hours when they'd have the rink to themselves, a tradition he continued with his grandchildren. "He used to take us there if we had snow days," his son George of Lake Forest, Ill., said. "We'd go with him at 6 in the morning and we'd stay on the ice until midnight. We'd go on weekends, and after school. Once we stayed so long that I got frostbite on my toe." Each of his grandchildren plays hockey, and two of his sons played for Harvard College. Though he never attended college, Mr. Hughes made sure that each of his children did. "He focused on the difference he could make with his kids," George said, "to make them better people, and make the world better as a result." In addition to his wife, daughter, and son, Mr. Hughes leaves two other daughters, Laurine McInnis of Chicago and Joanne of Madison, Conn.; two other sons, James of Lake Forest and Jack of York, Maine; and 13 grandchildren. A funeral service was held. Burial was in Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden. This story ran on page B10 of the Boston Globe on 6/6/2004. © Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company. |