Connellsville’s Luczka learned lessons well
Golf is a life sport, providing lessons not only in the athletic endeavor but in life as well. Jonathan Luczka excelled on the golf course as well as in the classroom, and the combination of the two led the senior to be one of the Falcons’ top student-athletes.
Luczka was selected as the top male student-athlete at Connellsville Area Senior High School and will receive a $500 scholarship through the Fayette County Student-Athlete Scholarship Program.
The program, sponsored by Davis and Davis Attorneys at Law in conjunction with the Herald-Standard, will provide $7,000 in scholarship money to 14 of Fayette County’s best and brightest student-athletes.
A banquet will culminate the program on Sunday, June 3, at the Historic Summit Inn. At that time, each of the 14 honorees will receive $500 toward a college education. HSTV will videotape the program.
Luczka, the son of Phillip and Deborah Luczka of Connellsville, was a member of the Connellsville golf team for four seasons, the final three as the Falcons’ No. 1 man after golfing at No. 2 as a freshman. He advanced to the WPIAL Championship in his junior season.
On the flip side of being a stellar student-athlete, Luczka is 22nd out of a class of 392 with a 3.69 GPA. The lessons he learned as one of the county’s best golfers had a positive affect in the classroom as well as from his science courses to the golf course.
“Golf definitely helped me. It’s a gentleman’s game. It helped me be attentive to teachers and respectful,” explained Luczka.
“Golf and science (courses) take time to practice and study. You have to work hard to understand it. You need a good work ethic.
“I learned to budget my time and separate the two.”
He saw his role as the Falcons’ top golfer to be consistent and beat his opponent.
“I needed to shoot 40, around 1- or 2-over. I just had to compete with the No. 1 of the other team,” said Luczka, who golfed for Ken House his first two years and Jason Tyska the final two.
His golf highlight didn’t occur with the Falcons, but in a Calloway Jr. PGA series event on Duke University’s Golf Club when he carded his only ace on a 150-yard, par-3.
Although, as with many golfers, he feels he’s left some strokes out on the course, Luczka has few regrets, saying, “It’s been a pretty good four years. I provided leadership and was someone to look up to.”
He will continue his student-athlete experience at Saint Vincent College where he will golf for the Bearcats and study pharmacy in a 2-4 program with Duquesne University. Luczka hopes to not only be accepted in the program after two years, but also continue his golf career for the Dukes.
Naturally, he is looking for a chance to golf professionally.
“I’d like to golf in at least one U.S. Open,” said Luczka. “I want to experience the PGA Tour at least once.”
Tyska, who golfed professionally and played in one U.S. Open, offered advice to that end, saying, “I said be yourself, play your game.”
As for where he hopes to be 10 years from now, Luczka said, “I want to be a Doctor of Pharmacy and say I worked hard to achieve all I achieved. I’d like to say I reached my goals.”