MOUNDSVILLE — Oliver Luck enjoyed two successful tours of duty at West Virginia University. First, as a three-year starter at quarterback. The second, as the university’s athletic director.

While no longer affiliated with WVU in an official capacity, Luck will always be a Mountaineer at heart.

He revisited his love affair with the school when he returned to the Ohio Valley Thursday night. The Cleveland native was the featured speaker at the Marshall County Chamber of Commerce dinner held at the former West Virginia State Penitentiary.

Luck left Morgantown in 2014 to become executive vice president of regulatory affairs for the NCAA in Indianapolis. The position was created that year to oversee the day-to-day operations in all NCAA regulatory functions.

“I do miss WVU. I had some great times there with some great people. I make it back every so often, but it is tough as I travel a great deal with my NCAA position,” Luck said prior to the chamber event. “Morgantown is a marvelous place. I was fortunate enough to experience it in two different capacities.

“We have great Mountaineer fans. I was glad they didn’t hit me with a whiskey bottle when we won only two games my sophomore year,” he added. “As the athletic director, I loved being around our coaches. Huggy (Bob Huggins) was my favorite. He is the best story teller ever.”

Luck played quarterback at WVU from 1978-1981, starting for three seasons. He passed for 1,292 yards and eight touchdowns while rushing for 407 yards and five touchdowns as a sophomore.

In his junior campaign, Luck earned first-team Academic All-American honors. He set a school record with 19 touchdown passes to go with 1,874 yards.

As a senior, Luck help to guide the Mountaineers to the Peach Bowl, downing Florida, 26-6. He was again named Academic All-American. Luck completed a school-record 216 passes for 2,448 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Luck ended his career with school records of 43 TD passes, 466 completions and 911 pass attempts. His 5,765 career passing yards currently ranks fourth on the all-time school list. Luck still is listed in the top 10 in nearly every WVU career passing category.

Luck was named the Mountaineers’ MVP in 1980 and 1981. He was inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame in 2000.

“I am very grateful to WVU. It provided me many opportunities, including being chosen to be a member of the College Football Selection Committee,” Luck said. “Being a part of that committee was a great experience, rubbing elbows with some amazing people.

“Condoleezza Rice (U.S. Secretary of State for President George W. Bush) was one of those,” he added. “Many people were surprised to have a woman on the committee. But she may have had the most powerful voice in the room.”

Luck was the 44th overall selection in the 1982 NFL Draft, taken in the second round by the Houston Oilers. He was the third quarterback taken overall, after Art Schlichter (fourth pick to Baltimore) and Jim McMahon (fifth selection to Chicago).

He became the Oilers starting quarterback in his second season, a campaign in which he tossed eight touchdowns while completing 124 of 217 attempts for 1,375 yards. As fate would have it, the Oilers signed future Hall of Famer Warren Moon, relegating Luck to back-up status.

After retiring from pro football, Luck received a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1987. He graduated with honors.

In June of 2008, Luck was appointed by Gov. Joe Manchin to the West Virginia University Board of Governors. He was subsequently hired in 2010 as WVU’s athletic director.

In his four seasons as athletic director, Luck had a major impact on Mountaineer athletics, the two biggest being the university leaving the Big East to join the Big 12 Conference and replacing Bill Stewart with Dana Holgorsen as head football coach.

Some of his other major moves included:

∫ Firing baseball coach Greg Van Zant;

∫ Instituting beer sales at the football stadium;

∫ Taking the school off of major probation;

∫ Adding men’s golf after a 32-year hiatus;

∫ Organizing state TIF funding to build a new baseball stadium eventually known as Monongalia County Ballpark.

“I am honored to be here tonight. The Ohio Valley is a special place,” Luck said. “I spend a lot of time here at places like Brooke and Wheeling Park when my son played soccer in high school.

“You have great people here. People like Jeff Kessler,” he continued. “Jeff was a huge help for us when he was in the state legislature in building our baseball stadium without using any university funds.”

Luck has been with the NCAA for more than two years, and says, “we have no shortage of problems to deal with, but it is fascinating work.” In his role, the former Cleveland St. Ignatius star clearly sees the current challenges facing sports today.

“One is club sports for youths. Sometimes kids can’t make their varsity team without playing club. But it creates socioeconomic problems for some families. Club programs are very expensive,” Luck said. “Another problem is the U.S. Supreme Court is going to rule soon on a gambling case. Right now it (gambling) is limited to Las Vegas, but New Jersey filed suit to be able to legalize it. Widespread sports gambling could prove a problem.

“Concussions are the last medical frontier. They are a mounting problem, not just in football but for all types of sports,” he added. “And last, is the view of people on higher education. I was very happy, as was my family, when I received a scholarship to WVU. I was also happy when my kids got college scholarships. But now too many people are not concerned with the educational benefits that go with scholarships but rather just a way to enter professional sports.”

Luck was introduced at the chamber dinner by close friend and Charleston Gazette-Mail sports scribe Mitch Vingle.

BUBBA’S BITS

MICHAEL TRAVERSA earned a spot on the Ohio State football team last month after a campus-wide tryout. The former Central Crossing High star landed a spot as a wide receiver. As fate would have it, Traversa incurred a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago after impressing in practice against Buckeye starters. He is the son of Eastern Ohio natives Emilio and Kelly (Kavage) Traversa. Emilio was a three-sport star at St. John Central before a sparkling grid career at West Liberty.

TRYOUTS FOR Dave Wojcik’s newly created AAU basketball program attracted a strong turnout a week ago at Linsly. The program will feature teams from 9U through 17U for boys and 14U through 17U for girls. They will begin competition this coming spring.

MY PRAYERS and condolences go out to Martins Ferry High head track coach Greg Steele on the death of his parents last week.

ALTHOUGH IT is early October, the NHL has dropped the puck on its regular season. It is tough to repeat as champions and even more difficult to three-peat. With that said, I am picking the Anaheim Ducks to dethrone the Pittsburgh Penguins.

FOR YOUNGSTERS looking to play some fall hoops, The Total Athlete/Indoor Training Facility in Triadelphia is offering a grade school boys basketball for grades 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6. Teams will be based on grade level and competition level. League play starts Nov. 4 and will end on Dec. 9. For more information, call Dave Koehler at 740-340-7078 or Mike Thomas at 740-359-4789, or by e-mailing specialtees123@aol.com or mthomas@united dairy.com.

PITTSBURGH STEELER Antonio Brown is a great wide receiver, arguably the NFL’s best. His volatile tempter tantrum on the sideline after not being targeted by Ben Roethlisberger despite being wide open was uncalled for. Roethlisberger fueled the fire by calling Brown out publicly.

OHIO UNIVERSITY Eastern is in the market for head women’s and men’s basketball coaches for this coming season.