Larry Lukenic – (1993)

LARRY LUKENIC

Blessed with natural athletic ability and a magnetic personality that complemented his handsome looks, Larry Lukenic had it all during the late 1940’s when he excelled in four sports at Clearview High School. Although his recognized forte was basketball, Lukenic finished his CHS career with 12 varsity letters, including four in roundball, three in both football and track, plus two in baseball. He was elected captain of the football, basketball and track teams during his senior school year of 1948-49. From the time he was promoted from the junior varsity to the varsity squad by Coach Cliff (Red) Stubblefield following the fifth game of his freshman year, Lukenic led Clipper basketball scoring in virtually every contest through his senior campaign. Among the first players in Lorain County history to crash the 30-point single-game scoring barrier, 6-1 Lukenic, nicknamed “Moose”, led the Southwestern Conference in cage scoring with 20.0-plus averages as a sophomore, junior and senior. He set a school record with 35 points against Rocky River’s host Pirates, appearing in only three quarters of play.

Lukenic helped keep the Clippers remarkably competitive. He received nearly as many accolades as a single-wing tailback, which netted him All-SWC honors in football. Larry did most of the team’s running, passing and punting.

“We had always had tough football schedules for our size school and we were frequently underdogs, even playing such powerhouses as Barberton and Toledo Waite”, explained Lukenic, a licensed attorney and a long-time executive at Travelers Insurance in Cleveland. “I remember a road game at Oberlin High when I was a junior. We were big underdogs and trailed by two TD’s with 2 1/2 minutes to play. Somehow I managed to throw two late touchdown passes – one to Kenny Knapp – and we beat them, 21-19. Gene Presti of Presti’s Restaurant in Oberlin still talks about that football game. I guess he doesn’t believe it yet.”

In track, Lukenic was a member of two mile relay squads that reached the state meet B finals. In 1948, the swift Clipper batonmen, who also featured Knapp, were unbeaten until losing to Oak Harbor by a reported one inch in their controversial second place state “photo-finish”. Both teams were credited with 3:34.2 times by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

Upon his CHS graduation, Larry, who had received recruitment feelers from Notre Dame, eventually selected John Carroll University, where he was a grid teammate and roommate of future Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula. However, late in his freshman year, Larry chose to transfer to Baldwin-Wallace to be closer to home to help his family after his father, Thomas, was seriously injured and immobilized while serving as a township volunteer fireman.

Lukenic broke into the B-W varsity grid lineup as a two-way sophomore back, but suffered a ruptured spleen in a road game at Bowling Green State University. He was advised by doctors to give up football and basketball, at least temporarily.

Frustrated but determined to earn a varsity letter, Larry later found a spot as a regular second baseman with Coach Lars Wagner’s B-W baseball nine.

Lukenic, who graduated from B-W in 1954, then resumed his cage career in the old Lorain City and YMCA Class A leagues with the strong Huzal’s Cafe and Kirby Cleaner quintets of that era. His high scoring was instrumental in those teams combining to win five championships.

As a perennial Class AA threat in the area amateur golf ranks, Lukenic has fired holes-in-one on No. 5 at home course Oberlin Golf Club and on No. 9 at Brookside Country Club in Barberton. He also was very prominent as a frequent medalist with multi-year team champion Paul’s Auto Body in the Lorain City League and as a finalist in Lorain County District Golf Association (LCDGA) match play events where his perennial nemesis was Chet Antos.

Larry, a past two-time individual district medal king in Knights of Columbus, Northeastern Ohio Council competition, also won “AA” club-championship honors at Lorain Emerald Valley and wore its symbolic Green Jacket “He’s (Larry) a magnificent golfer”, the late Emil Kucirek told The Plain Dealer at the time.