Services to be held for former Macon football player

<p>A tribute for Al Lucas, the Macon football player who died earlier this week in an Arena Football League game in Los Angeles, will be held on Saturday.</p><p>The tribute will be held at 6 p.m. at Northeast Magnet High School. His funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Macon City Auditorium, said Sharon Hutchings of Hutchings Funeral Home.</p><p>Other details were expected to be released on Thursday, Hutchings said.</p><p>The Avengers lineman failed to get up after a tackle during Sunday's game against the New York Dragons. Lucas, 26, was pronounced dead at California Medical Center Hospital a short time later.</p><p>Television replays showed Lucas bending down to make a tackle during a first-quarter kickoff return. As the Dragons' ball carrier and a blocker tumbled over his head and back, the blocker's leg appeared to hit Lucas in the head. Lucas did not move after falling to the ground.</p><p>Team officials said at the time the 6-foot-1, 300-pound Lucas died of a "presumed spinal cord injury."</p><p>Lucas, a native of Macon, Ga., played college football at Troy State University in Alabama from 1996-99. He was named the top defensive player in NCAA Division I-AA his senior season.</p><p>He played for the NFL's Carolina Panthers in 2000-01, recording 49 1/2 tackles in 20 games.</p><p>Lucas joined the AFL's Tampa Bay Storm in 2003, recording 19 1/2 tackles in 13 games and helping the Storm to a 12-4 record and a victory over Arizona in the championship game. He joined the Avengers last year and was under contract through the 2006 season.</p><p>He and his wife, De'Shonda, had a 1-year-old daughter, Mariah. The former Northeast standout was the son of state Rep. David Lucas and Macon City Councilwoman Elaine Lucas.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/4/147634