Luckhardt to be recognized by W&J

Save the date … Oct. 15.
That’s when the Washington & Jefferson College Department of Athletics and the National Football Foundation will partner to recognize John Luckhardt of McMurray.
The ceremony will take place during the Presidents’ home football game against Carnegie Mellon University. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Cameron Stadium.
Luckhardt, who served as head coach at Washington & Jefferson from 1982-98, is one of 21 individuals that will be inducted as part of the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class.
“Coach Luckhardt’s induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in December will be a very special moment for Washington & Jefferson College and we want to recognize John for this achievement at the stadium in which his teams won so many games,” said W&J athletic director Scott McGuinness.
“We invite all of Coach Luckhardt’s former players and coaches to come celebrate his outstanding career and the success of one of NCAA Division III’s storied college football programs.”
The NFF On-Campus Salutes are presented by Fidelity Investments. The ultimate purpose of this ceremony is to honor outstanding players and coaches in front of their home football crowd and to present a framed Hall of Fame plaque to the school for permanent display.
A stalwart on the Western Pennsylvania football scene for the better part of three decades, Luckhardt turned two programs into perennial national contenders, winning an astounding 76.1 percent of his combined games at Washington & Jefferson and California University.
In 1982, Luckhardt took over a Washington & Jefferson program that had only produced four winning campaigns in the previous 17 seasons. By 1984, Luckhardt had turned the Presidents into a 9-2 team, winning the team’s first Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) title and earning the school’s first trip to the NCAA Division III playoffs. The program never looked back, amassing winning records every season under his watch, culminating in 1998 with a 137-37-2 record during his 17-year tenure.
Under Luckhardt’s guidance, W&J won 13 PAC championships and made 11 appearances in the NCAA Playoffs, including two trips to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl (1992 and 1994). In 1992, he was named the AFCA National Coach of the Year, and CNN named him the Division III Coach of the Year in 1994.
From 1996-98, Luckhardt also served as Washington & Jefferson’s athletic director.
Luckhardt served as head coach at California from 2002 through 2011. He is the Vulcans’ winningest coach with an 88-33 cumulative record and a .727 winning percentage.
Luckhardt concluded his Cal coaching career by guiding the Vulcans to five-consecutive seasons of double-digit victories and the program’s initial five NCAA Playoff appearances, which included three-straight trips to the national semifinals. Cal won or shared the PSAC West title in each of his final seven seasons.
The 2022 College Football Hall of Fame Class will officially be inducted during the 64th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Dec. 6 at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
Luckhardt is set to become the fourth person with ties to W&J to enter the College Football Hall of Fame. Previous inductees with W&J ties were Wilbur “Pete” Henry (1951), John Heisman (1954) and Edgar Garbisch (1954).