New Jersey Herald: From the Big Island to big-time athlete, coach

by Matt Sheehan | New Jersey Herald

Its 4:30 a.m. and Sabrina Lucas’ sneakers pound against the pavement. Her run takes her along county Route 517 in Sparta and up Glen Road. On the surface, it’s just part of her preparation for the upcoming New York City Marathon. But to this mother and wife, this teacher and coach, these morning workouts are therapeutic — like a trip to the spa.

courtesy the NJ Herald

“It’s a chance to clear my head, reflect and release the stress of anything that’s bothering me,” she said.

Despite her take on it, getting up for a jog while most of us are tucked away in bed demonstrates a rare determination and commitment to excellence. That commitment will be recognized Nov. 1 when Lucas is inducted into the Sussex County Sports Hall of Fame.

It also will be a tribute to the parents from whom she learned that determination.

“It’s all about the work ethic; no matter what I did in life, my parents told me to do my best,” she said.

Lucas was born a continent away from Sussex County — on the Big Island of Oahu, Hawaii. Her dad was a U.S. Army aviator, mom an Army wife, their children Army brats.

“Up until eight we moved around quite a bit. After Hawaii, North Carolina for a year, New Jersey once for 18 months, Kansas for another year, Illinois for two more,” Lucas said. “But then the family came back to Franklin for good.”

She was 9; her brother Randy was 15.

Back to Franklin; where her parents met; where they fell in love.

Her father, Frank McChesney, moved there from Indiana in 1947, his junior year of high school. The Midwest kid they called “Hoosier Hot Shot” spotted Sabrina’s mother, Celia, a pretty girl with a passion for piano, at a local dance.

“He always said ‘the first time I saw your mother I knew that was the girl I was going to marry,’ ” Lucas said.

Hollywood has to get their ideas from somewhere.

When she wasn’t indulging in her mother’s love of music, Lucas tagged along with her father to watch the men play basketball at the Franklin courts down by the pond.

It was quality time with dad, she said.

“One day at the courts, the girls JV coach at Franklin High School, asked my father ‘does she play basketball.’ Dad said ‘No,’ and the coach said ‘she’s got a good athletic build maybe she should.’ “

So she gave it a try.

In spite of any build, that year was a struggle, one she remembers as horrible.

“I just was not an athlete my freshman year; I was lucky to get a minute during a blowout,” she said.

Lucas continued to work with her father at those courts down by the pond. Sometimes they would argue about her jump shot, about her defense, but they always played.

By her senior year, the girl who wasn’t an athlete was starting at power forward on an undefeated SCIL champion.

After graduation, Lucas moved onto Bloomsburg University to study special education and continue playing basketball.

By her sophomore year of college, she also was running cross country.

“At first, I just wanted to get in shape for the upcoming basketball season, but I caught the running bug.”

The following year, Lucas was running track as well, all the while remaining an honors student.

“I balanced my time so much better by being involved, there was no time to go out and just goof off. You had a set schedule and that worked well for me.”

At her graduation, she was named outstanding senior for the Class of 1985, an honor awarded on all-around performance.

“My parents were pretty surprised,” Lucas added, laughing.

From there it was on to Lehigh University for a master’s in education and a job as an assistant coach. Lucas said she was drawn to the teaching side of sports, and when she took a job at Wallkill Valley Regional High School in 1987 she was soon coaching three sports — cross country, basketball and track. Today, she still heads the boys’ and girls’ cross country programs and has been recognized as the New Jersey Herald’s Coach of the Year three times.

On Nov. 1, Lucas will join her father, a 1980 inductee, in the Sussex County Sports Hall of Fame. Their plaques will be on display together, not to far from those courts down by the pond.

Her husband, Bob Lucas, sees the final symmetry as emblematic of a bond that spurned his wife’s achievement in sports.

“Her athletic life — playing, coaching — was driven by her father. He gave it all in everything he did and his daughter does the same. She only knows 100 percent.”

This story ran in the NJ Herald on Oct. 20, 2008.

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