‘He was a guy with a huge heart.’ Ex-Lakewood Ranch football star Cody Hughes dies at 32
Cody Hughes, who starred in multiple sports at Lakewood Ranch High and played football at Western Kentucky before coaching at various schools in Manatee and Sarasota counties, passed away Monday. He was 32.
The cause of death is pending the completion of the autopsy report.
Hughes was beloved in the community for his big smile and passion for coaching kids, while drawing the ire of Florida Gator fans briefly in 2007.
With less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter of a UF blowout victory against WKU in the Swamp, Gators quarterback Tim Tebow was flushed from the pocket and headed toward the Hilltoppers’ sideline. As Tebow was pushed out-of-bounds, Hughes, who was the starting left guard, stood up from the bench and knocked Tebow down when Tebow ran into him.
Scroll to 1:52:28 of the below YouTube video to see the play.
“I remember talking to him,” said Saint Stephen’s assistant coach Chris Valcarcel, who coached Hughes at Lakewood Ranch. “He’s like, ‘I don’t care who that is. We’re Western Kentucky rolling into the Swamp. … He’s up in my face, I put him down.’’”
That play was part of what made up Hughes: an intensity when it was time to perform, but with a huge smile showcasing his lovable nature.
“The biggest thing about Cody, I think, is his heart,” said Valcarcel, who is a UF graduate and has coached multiple programs in Manatee County. “If he was in the room, you knew he was in the room. He was not sitting back. He was always laughing, always thinking, always talking and always going a mile a minute.”
Hughes was a standout athlete at Lakewood Ranch, securing a college career at Western Kentucky for football. In addition to football and other sports he played, Hughes won a state title in the heavyweight division at the 2005 Florida High School Athletic Association weightlifting championship.
“I just remember he had his pre-weightlifting ritual that was the same all the way to states, where he would slap himself across the chest,” Valcarcel said. “He would have one of the assistant coaches slap him on the thighs and his stomach and he would just growl, get out there, finish and just leave the … platform with this huge grin on his face.”
After his collegiate football career, Hughes eventually returned to Manatee County and Valcarcel introduced him to Saint Stephen’s football coach Tod Creneti.
“He was a guy who had a huge heart and he cared tremendously about the kids especially,” Creneti said. “He brought a lot of good energy and he was just a guy who, at his best, was somebody everybody wanted to be around.”
Two seasons with the Falcons preceded coaching stops at Manatee High and Sarasota High.
While with the Hurricanes, he also was the junior varsity coach on the wrestling team under Andrew Gugliemini.
“Had Cody in PE class at Haile Middle, many years later hired him as our JV wrestling coach at Manatee,” Gugliemini wrote on Facebook. “He was one of the great men that was there for the kids! He cared! Rest easy big man. I love ya and we will miss ya. Rest Easy! Coach G.”
Gugliemini’s tribute was one of several on social media from community members.
“It was pretty crushing (Monday) to get the news,” Valcarcel said. “This is a rare instance where we lost somebody that was a student and athlete of mine, was a colleague and a good friend. It’s just one of those things, I haven’t had time to process it. My family kind of left me alone (Monday) and, honestly, I still haven’t processed it all.”
Added Creneti: “It’s heartbreaking in every way. He’s young and he’s gone way too soon.”
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 3:36 PM.
