Hugh McNeal Blacklock - born 1 January 1893 in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. He died 9 January 1954 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He won recognition as a star athlete at Central High and Michigan State.
He played pro football from 1920-1926 as a tackle for Decatur Staleys, Chicago Staleys, Chicago Bears and the Brooklyn Lyons. He stood 6' tall and weighed 220 lbs. He was inducted into the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame in 1972.
He served in the U. S. Navy, 1917-1919.
He worked as a truck driver, 1919-1923; was deputy sheriff of Kent County, 1923-1928; worked as bank guard, 1928-1934. He was elected Kent County Sheriff and served from 1935 to the time of his death. He was credited with modernizing and enlarging the department and working for a new county jail.
He served as vice-president of Michigan Sheriff's Association, 1945-1947, and president, 1947-1948; was director of National Sheriff's Association, 1948-1949.
He served on the advisory council for Kent County Civil Defense.
He married Bessie Skeels in 1917 and they had two children - a daughter, Mrs. Oscar Lantinga and a son, Hugh W. Blacklock.

NOTE: After Sheriff Blacklock's death, his wife, Bessie had a column in the local newspaper entitled, "A Married A Sheriff, or My Twenty Years in Jail".  She told about some of her experiences.