A MESSEGE FROM THE DIRECTOR...
St. Lawrence Federal Credit Union, SeaComm Support Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club Fundraising Efforts for Preston C. Carlisle Youth Athletic Center/Club Continues Annual Campaign.
The St. Lawrence Federal Credit Union and SeaComm recently combined to make donations of $10,000 each to the Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club to help complete construction expenses for the Preston C. Carlisle Youth Athletic Center. The state-of-the-art facility opened last fall and is used daily by the many members of the club. "We are so thankful to the SLFCU and SeaComm for support of this project and the youth we serve. To be able to be clear of debt for this beautiful new facility is a testament to SLFCU, SeaComm, the Carlisle Family and the many businesses and individuals who have supported our efforts. The facility will serve youth for years to come and will have a lasting impact on the youth of Ogdensburg and the surrounding communities. The work is never done though as we continue to raise funds to meet our annual operating costs with a budget of $480,000 for 2023. With over 500 members and average daily attendance after school of about 170 different youth and additional priorities like providing free summer programming and fighting food insecurities costs continue to rise and youth membership remains at $6 a year." Stated Thomas Luckie, OBGC Executive Director.
The club is currently conducting its annual campaign to help offset operating costs to support our youth, click the Donate Button on the website and donate through Paypal with any major credit card or mail donation to Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club, P.O. Box 555, Ogdensburg, NY 13669.
The original Board of Directors of the Ogdensburg Boys Club (later became of the Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club) were people of great vision. Once they had the first boys club in Northern New York established they needed a leader to take the project to the level which the founders had envisioned. They found that leader in New York City native Thomas P. Luckie Sr. who was serving as the Program Director for the boys club in the Brooklyn Naval Yard. An outstanding athlete and all-state basketball player who jokingly would later tell people in Ogdensburg “I came from cement” and when asked by a youngster if he had a tree house when he was young he replied “there were no tree houses on Columbus Avenue.”
A player of such prowess and charisma that his brother John called him “The great white hope of Columbus Avenue. He had it all.” John Luckie would later refer to his brother as “a story all of his own, you take a look at his family and you know he made all the right decisions.” Tom Luckie took great pride that he was a New York City Catholic, in his Irish heritage and that he got a lot of his toughness from his dad who was an accomplished Gaelic Footballer. He incorporated that “tough love” into his amazing ability to reach young people and guide them toward the Boys and Girls Club of America motto of “Be Great.”
In 1965 he became Program/Assistant Director of the Ogdensburg Boys Club and Director of the Belmont Courts Boys Club. In 1968 he was named Executive Director of the club and was an instrumental force of a fund drive in 1973-1974 which resulted in the current club being built on Paterson Street and becoming the Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club. He served in that position until retiring in 2005.
His son Tom Luckie Jr. followed his dad to the Executive Director’s chair and has continued the mission with his dad’s energy and wisdom.
On Sunday “Mr. Luckie”, as he was known by three generations of club members, peacefully passed away surrounded by members of his loving family. “Back then we had some different candidates for the job. But we all liked Tom and he had experience working with the Boys and Girls Club in Brooklyn. Frank Augsbury Jr. let us use his company plane and we took trips to New York to talk to Tom,” said Chuck Kelly who was a member of the original board of directors with several other of the most prominent members of the community. “We have always had such great community support for the boys and girls club and the original board of directors was a group of absolutely tremendous people. Tom and his wife Ruth (McGillivray) came to Ogdensburg with five children (Thomas Jr., Jamie, Colleen, Bippy Elizabeth and Monica) and their sixth child Eugene was born here. They worked very hard and did a great job. I have been involved in a lot of things in the city and the boys and girls club is the one that I am most proud of.”
Tom Luckie Sr. headed a staff which developed the OBGC into a symbol of great pride in the city and “Club Kids” went on to become outstanding family people and reach the heights of their professions all over the country.
In athletics alone, Rick Carlisle went on to become an NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and NBA Championship Coach for the Dallas Mavericks and Jimmy Howard has enjoyed as outstanding career as goaltender of the Detroit Red Wings and a US Olympian. “We have lost a legend,” said Carlisle. “It is hard to even put it into words how he influenced so many people. He was like a second father at the boys club. He was a mentor, a teacher and a coach. He has left a legacy which will go on for decades.”
But just as important was the ongoing day-to-day atmosphere of positive reinforcement created at the club and one of the great testimonies came in the early years in a famous phone call to the Luckie household on Christmas Eve when a youngster asked “is the club open tonight.” “Mr. Luckie had an immeasurable positive impact on hundreds of boys and girls in Ogdensburg. Jackie Robinson’s epitaph says a life is not important but for the impact it has on others. Mr. Luckie’s life was a gift,” said Bill Powers.
“I had all the respect in the world for him and will always remember him for this and how he led all of us to a better life,” said Bob McGuire.
Another club member Pete Shea said “Growing up in Ogdensburg there was Biddy Basketball, Kiwanis Baseball and Tom Luckie.”
While leading the evolution of the OBGC Mr. Luckie also embarked on an extraordinary family life with his wife Ruth who passed away in 1986 and his second wife Pam (Miller) whom he in married in 1988 and together they raised a son Michael. Both Ruth and Pam were deeply involved in the success of the OBGC and incredibly supportive of their husband. Descendants of Tom Luckie Sr. have made their own high impact marks in athletics and in any number of professional fields. While his plate was overflowing with responsibilities at home and at the club Mr. Luckie also managed a landmark legacy of community service. Service which included: United Way Volunteer, St. Lawrence County Legislator, Ogdensburg City Council, Ogdensburg Lions Club Member, Moose Lodge Member, Seaway Festival Volunteer, Ogdensburg School Board, St. Lawrence County Youth Advisory Board, Ogdensburg Housing Authority Board, helped to establish Pop Warner Football and Minor Hockey, Biddy Basketball Coach, Bishop Conroy Physical Education Teacher and for a number of years was the Head Basketball Coach at Wadhams Hall Seminary College. His community service was matched by his ability to build a legendary circle of friends which extended from priests, bishops, cardinals, nuns, doctors, lawyers, law enforcement officers, legislators, senators and professional athletes like Rick Carlisle, Bob Cousy, Phil Simms, Joe Morris and Dave Jennings who served as OBGC Expo Guest Stars; to the fun-loving rogues and rascals who frequented some of the establishments where he loved to gather with family and friends to share stories and a touch of “The Irish” .
Many of the gatherings came after rounds of golf which replaced basketball as his athletic passion after moving to Ogdensburg. His golf career featured two holes in one, including one of the few aces ever recorded on the long signature downhill 10th hole overlooking the St. Lawrence River at the St. Lawrence State Park where shots can be highly influenced by the wind.
He came to Ogdensburg as an outstanding basketball player and brought the “City Game” to the local men’s league.
“Passes from Tom came from angles, places, and times that you weren’t used to but better be ready for. Tom arrived from the City and Ogdensburg basketball was never the same again - nor the community,” said retired OFA Basketball Coach and New York State Basketball Hall of Fame member Bill Merna. Tom Luckie Sr. used the same approach to extend the outreach of the offerings of the Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club. He knew who to ask and when to ask for help on a project and he would never take no for an answer.
On Sunday he drew his final breath surrounded by family members while listening to his brother John bid farewell over the phone with Irish music playing in the background. A perfect end to a life lived, a race well run and a game well-played like a golfer who counted all his strokes but would accept an occasional mulligan.
Then his spirit took flight passing over the OBGC on Paterson Street, the outdoor basketball courts and hydrants-for-bases stickball diamonds of Columbus Avenue and the rolling hills of the Emerald Isle on the way to a rightful place among the great ones who towered over the landscape when they stooped to help a child.
Memorial Donations for Thomas P. Luckie, Sr. can be made to the OBGC by clicking above on the Paypal button or by sending it to PO BOX 555, Ogdensburg NY 13669.
