NFF Chapter Leadership Award Recipients

2014 Bob Lucey

  • Chapter Tacoma Pierce County (WA) Chapter
  • Year 2014

Biography

The best word to describe Bob Lucey from the Tacoma Pierce County Chapter is “lifer.” Lucey has played, coached and given back to the game in the Tacoma, Wash., area for the past 51 years.
 
Lucey started out at Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma and went on to play at the University of Puget Sound, where he received Honorable Mention All-America honors in 1969. Following college he began a successful coaching career at Curtis High School, holding the head job for 30 years and winning four Washington State AAA Championships with an overall record of 198-118. He is an inductee of the Washington State Football Coaches Hall of Fame, University of Puget Sound Hall of Fame and Pacific Northwest Football Hall of Fame.
 
“The game of football has been a major influence in my life” said Lucey. “In 1963, a high school coach first encouraged me to play football. Apparently he saw something in me that I did not see in myself. It was the beginning of a life-changing passion.”
 
Coach Lucey joined the Tacoma Pierce County Chapter in 1976, and he has actively promoted his student-athletes for recognition at the local Scholar-Athlete Award Banquet ever since. He himself was honored by the chapter three times as Coach of the Year. In 2008, Lucey took over as chapter president, and he has successfully continued to lead the chapter to this date.
 
Since its founding, the Tacoma Pierce County Chapter has distributed more than $260,000 in scholarships. Each year the chapter honors and distributes scholarships to a dozen area standouts. They also present the Robbie Hunt Community Service Scholarship, named for a former high school scholar-athlete.
 
“The Pierce County Chapter has provided an opportunity to stay connected with area coaches and be part of a board that has been committed to recognizing the best and brightest local student-athletes,” said Lucey. “I am proud to help continue the legacy of our NFF chapter founded by my college coach and mentor, Paul Wallrof.”
 
Lucey and his wife of 43 years, Christine, have two sons, Mike and Nick.