Hugh Lowery (July 19, 1892 – September 5, 1972) was an American football player. He played at the tackle position for the 1920 Detroit Heralds during the first regular season of the National Football League (NFL), then known as the American Professional Football Association (APFA). He was also a member of the football, basketball, baseball and track and field teams at Franklin College. Early years Lowery was born in 1892 in Cutler, Indiana. He had a twin sister Ruie Lowery. In 1900, Lowery was living with his mother, Irene Lowery, grandmother, Rebecca Jervis, and three siblings in Democrat Township, Carroll County, Indiana. By 1910, Lowery was 17 and working as a farm laborer in Democrat Township. His mother was no longer part of the household, which was headed by his grandmother, Rebecca Jervis. Lowery played basketball at Cutler High School and led that team to the county championship in two consecutive years. College athletics and military service Lowery played college football for Franklin College in Indiana. He was also a member of the baseball, basketball and track teams at Franklin College. He was captain of the Franklin basketball team, playing at the center position, for the 1916–17 season and captain of the track team, competing in sprint and weight events, in 1916. As a basketball player, he was regarded in 1916 as "the best defensive pivotal man in Indiana." As a sprinter, he ran the 100-yard dash in 10-2/5 seconds and the 220-yard event in 23 seconds. His collegiate athletic career was interrupted by military service during World War I, though he continued to play during his training in New York. During the fall of 1917, Lowery was captain of the undefeated Mineola Flying Squad football team from the Aviation Training Camp at Mineola, Long Island, New York. On December 8, 1917, while playing in a blizzard at St. Paul School in Garden City, New York, Lowery recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown during Mineola's 13–0 victory over Fort Slocum. The Mineola team finished the season undefeated and won the championship of the New York Athletic Club's Metropolitan District Army and Navy Posts Football League. He attained the rank of first lieutenant in the Aviation Corps and served as an instructor of cross country and formation flights at the Third Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun, France. He served from April 1917 until February 1919 and was