LA's Al Lucas dies after tackle

[scottw]

LOS ANGELES - Former NFL defensive lineman Al Lucas died Sunday from a presumed spinal cord injury sustained while trying to make a tackle for the Los Angeles Avengers during an Arena Football League game, the team said.

<TABLE style="PADDING-LEFT: 15px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=textSmallGrey vAlign=top align=middle>advertisement
<IFRAME marginWidth=0 marginHeight=0 src="http://view.atdmt.com/MSN/iview/msnnkhac001300x250xNBCSMS00082msn/direct/01" frameBorder=0 width=300 scrolling=no height=250 leftmargin="0" topmargin="0"><script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">document.write(' </script><noscript> </noscript></IFRAME></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Lucas was taken to California Hospital and all attempts to revive him were unsuccessful, team physician Dr. Luga Podesta said in a statement.

Members of the team were prohibited from speaking to the media after the game. A call to a California Hospital spokesman was not returned.

“It is with great sadness that we confirm the passing of Al Lucas. At this time, the thoughts and prayers of the entire Avenger organization are with his wife and family,” team owner and chief executive officer Casey Wasserman said in a statement.

The 26-year-old Lucas was injured during a first-quarter kickoff return against the New York Dragons.

Television replays showed Lucas bending down to make a tackle. The Dragons’ ball carrier and a blocker tumbled over his head and back, with the blocker’s leg appearing to hit Lucas in the head. Lucas did not move after falling to the ground.

The 6-foot-1, 300-pound lineman played two seasons (2000-01) for the Carolina Panthers, recording 49½ tackles in 20 games. He attended Troy State from 1996-99 and won the Buck Buchanan Award his senior season as the top defensive player in Division I-AA. In 43 games at Troy State he had 255 tackles and 11½ sacks.

He was selected to the Arena League’s All-Rookie team in 2003 while playing for Tampa Bay.

“Al Lucas played arena football with passion and integrity. The entire AFL family extends its deepest sympathies to Al’s wife and family as well as his friends, family and teammates,” commissioner David Baker said in a statement.

Lucas was married to De-Shonda Lucas and had a daughter, Mariah.

 

[winkyduck]

i was listening to the game on the radio. they took forever coming back from halftime and added a few minutes to the clock and extended halftime and the announcer larry kahn was livid at the delay. looks like he made a big "ooooops" here



to say this is tragic is an understatement

 

[TheGoalie]

Just goes to show . How you never know what can happen. This will hurt the game and scare the crap out of NFL & NCAA football..


RIP

:sad3:

 

[AFLGuru]

Having met Al Lucas before from his days as a Storm player, he was really a guy who gave it everything he had on every play. Loved the game and always looked like he was enjoying himself on the field. The AFL will sorely miss him. May the league handle this better than they did Fran Papasedero's death a couple years back. A very unfortunate incident that happened in the spirit of the game. Clean play all around, but regardless, there are going to be many heavy hearts around the city of Los Angeles and the rest of the Arena League for quite some time to come.

Rest in peace, Al Lucas.



--AFLGuru:toast:

 

[Dawoofdaddy]

Very sad. R.I.P.

 

[Roxygurl]

Having met Al Lucas before from his days as a Storm player, he was really a guy who gave it everything he had on every play. Loved the game and always looked like he was enjoying himself on the field. The AFL will sorely miss him. May the league handle this better than they did Fran Papasedero's death a couple years back. A very unfortunate incident that happened in the spirit of the game. Clean play all around, but regardless, there are going to be many heavy hearts around the city of Los Angeles and the rest of the Arena League for quite some time to come.

Rest in peace, Al Lucas.



--AFLGuru:toast:

i watched the game and the injury was bizzar guru. i left my thoughts in the offshore forum concerning this game.i pray for the lucas family and the avenger family and all afl familys around the league.~rg

 

[daringly]

This is the saddest and most shocking thing I've ever read.

I always thought that if someone were seriously injured playing the game, it would be because of the walls or unpadded concrete areas outside of play. If a person goes head-first into the wall, or flips over, that could easily cause an injury. But this one... This was just odd. Notwithstanding the freakiness of the injury, I'd expect to see improvements to safety in the game these next few weeks.