Ex-punter
is learning to lead

By Melissa Yerkov
Times Sports Editor

Robert McHugh was a little late.
While most college athletes have been mastering the game of football since they were children, McHugh wasn’t introduced to life on the gridiron until he was a junior at Bishop McDevitt High School.
Now, at 23, he’s making up for lost time.
"I was always a soccer player growing up," said McHugh, a Northeast Philadelphia native. "I didn’t start football until later on in high school. But I’ve been playing for about seven years now, and those seven years were the best of my life."
After high school, McHugh went on to play football for Widener University, as a punter. Last season, as a senior, he placed 22 punts inside the 20-yard line and eight inside the five, helping his team win the Middle Atlantic Conference for the first time since 2001. Widener had a 7-0 record in league play (8-3 overall).
The good times came to an end, however, when the Pride lost, 21-20, to Case Western Reserve in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
"On the bus ride home I was thinking about how I didn’t want to give up football," recalled McHugh. "That was the last game I’d ever play."
But there was a new opportunity at Widener just right for him.
"Three days after our last football game, I got a call from coach (David Wood) asking me to help coach," said McHugh, now the official graduate assistant coach and special-teams coordinator. "I was really happy because I didn’t have to give up the game."
He won’t begin his new gig until later in the summer, when training camp starts for a new season. For now, he has started his prep work on a smaller scale.
McHugh is teaching youth football clinics at Widener, specifically for children 8 to 14 years of age.
"With the little kids, teaching them the basics is a little rough, but it’s enjoyable," said McHugh. "Overall, I just like to be involved with football and be able to give back. It reminds me of playing sports as a kid, and how much I loved it."
McHugh was always a natural athlete, and usually could be found playing baseball, basketball and soccer with his neighborhood friends.
That is, until a bump discovered on his leg turned out to be something serious.
"When I was eight, I was diagnosed with bone cancer," recalled McHugh. "My mom found it when I was getting ready to go to a soccer game. At first we just thought it was a lump from hitting my leg, but then we went to the doctor and had a few tests done and found out it was cancer."
Diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare disease in which cancer cells are found in the bone or soft tissue, McHugh was treated at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and underwent several surgeries during the next year.
"Thankfully everything was fine," he said. "The tumor was right below my knee, so they had to cut out some bone behind my fibula."
As a result of the cancer treatments, McHugh — who attended Resurrection Elementary School at the time — was home-schooled during the final months of second grade and throughout third grade.
"I kind of knew what was happening, but to say I fully understood would be a lie," said McHugh. "If I had to go through it as a teenager, I think it would have been more scary. But I guess being so young was better for me."
It took the ambitious 8-year-old about one year to fully recover and resume his active lifestyle.
Now, 15 years later, he has kicked his way through a solid sports career with the same leg that once was treated for cancer.
The 6-foot-4, 230-pound punter averaged 38 yards per punt at Widener University last season and led the NCAA Division III with an average of 2.5 punts per game. He also was named second-team CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors Association) Academic All-District for the second consecutive year.
Now that his playing days are done, the newest member of the Widener coaching staff is focusing on mentoring during the upcoming football season.
"The offseason for a coach, in my opinion, is a little it harder," he said. "Between recruiting and practices, there’s a lot of stuff going on. But we have some great coaches down here who have been coaching for a while, so they were able to help me with the adjustment."
Although he’ll have some key responsibilities on the football field, McHugh still has a lot to learn in the classroom. Having graduated with a 3.75 GPA in criminal justice, he now is in the process of earning his master’s degree.
"I was accepted into the master’s program and I just finished my first year," said McHugh, who completed his 15 credits with a 4.0 GPA. "I wanted to study criminal justice, because I wanted to get into the FBI some day, or something like that. But the further along I go in school, the more I want to get into teaching.
"My experience here has shown me how much I enjoy the academics of it. So now, I’m thinking something like a college professor of criminal justice," he explained. "Between football and school, I’ve enjoyed it so much. If I can find a job where I can give back what I’ve been given — that’s what I want to do." ••
Sports editor Melissa Yerkov can be reached at 215-354-3035 or myerkov@phillynews.com