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What's Not To Love About Lew Luce?

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By SCOTT PURKS

Tribune correspondent

Published: September 19, 2008

GIBSONTON - "I love Lew Luce," East Bay coach Brian Thornton said. "I love everything about him."

Let Thornton count the ways.

"Lew Luce goes out on his own every Friday night and scouts our next opponent," Thornton said. "Then he comes back to my house, gets the tape of our game, and then at the crack of dawn on Saturday makes the tape exchange with our next opponent."

Thornton goes on: After Luce drives back with the opponent's tape, he makes copies for all the assistants. After that, Luce makes a scouting-report poster, complete with sizes, speeds, tendencies and little personality notes, such as, "This kid thinks he's a big shot," or, "This kid is so bad he must be the principal's son."

Oh yes, Luce is "a heck of a character," who does a perfect impersonation of the Aflac duck and sings to East Bay's players, "Who let the dogs out? Woof, woof ... woof, woof ..."

Luce, by the way, is 70.

Looking at him, or listening to him, you would never know he played football for the Washington Redskins and Penn State University, played minor-league baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates and was, for three years in an area of more than 100 high schools around Washington, D.C., first-team All-Metropolitan in football, baseball and basketball (along with future NBA Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor).

"Ah, heck," Luce said, standing beside his beat-up green truck with 180,000 miles on it. "I don't want any publicity about any big-time stuff. I just do this because I think Brian Thornton is a great guy, and, well, I love to help kids."

Which is why after professional football, he coached freshman football at Florida State, was a high school football coach for seven years, a high school athletic director for more than 20 and a high school basketball referee for 25.

How long will Luce go on helping Thornton?

"As long as I can," said Luce, who in the spring coordinates East Bay's fundraising golf tournament. "Hey, Brian needs help and I'll do whatever I can to help him."

"Lew Luce?" Thornton said. "What's not to love?"

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