In this day and age of such specialized skills in the NFL, it is hard to remember when individual athletes played both offense and defense. William Patrick (Pat) McHugh was one of those players. Born in 1919, McHugh attended Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga in 1938, where he became one of the finest football players in the school’s history. His football talent landed him a scholarship from Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets had a great season in 1946, and McHugh was chosen Tech’s Most Valuable Player. In the Houston “Oil Bowl” that year, he returned an interception seventy-three yards for a touchdown in Tech’s defeat of St. Mary’s. Although McHugh played both offense and defense, he truly shined on the latter, and during his four years at Tech, no player ever caught a touchdown pass over him. After graduating, McHugh went on to play for Earle “Greasy” Neale and the Philadelphia Eagles. During his five year career with the Eagles, he played in three consecutive NFL world championship games, with his team winning in 1948 and 1949. On defense, Coach Neale called McHugh “the best defender in football.” In 1948 he was selected Second Team All-NFL. After retiring from football, McHugh returned to Chattanooga and was employed by Combustion Engineering, where he also found the time to work as a football official in the SEC. Now retired, Pat McHugh is also a member of the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame and the Chattanooga Hall of Fame.
