Eligibility to play on a John Knecht Jr. coached athletic team depended heavily on following specific values.\u00a0 One has to reveal team spirit, establish a clean reputation and exhibit hard work at all times.\u00a0 These traits were never better demonstrated than during the late 1930\u2019s when young center and 1995 Branford Sports Hall of Fame inductee named Vic Lukawsky was showcased on one of Branford\u2019s most lethal basketball teams.<\/p>\n
Born in New Haven and residing in Branford for the past 70 years, Vic attended Branford High School and played basketball under the tutelage of 1988 Branford Sports Hall of Famer John Knecht Jr.\u00a0 During Lukawsky\u2019s junior season, Branford enjoyed one of its finer years in history.\u00a0 After loosing its first three games of the 1936 season, the Branford basketball team promptly went on to win 11 of its next 13 regular season games and capture the Housatonic League championship outright against Wallingford.\u00a0 Branford next encountered Lyman Hall of Wallingford for a repeat dual, this time for the state title, and advanced in the contest 29-17 and was crowned Class \u201cB\u201d Champions for the state of Connecticut.\u00a0 That year, Lukawsky and the Hornets had a chance to make history by being the only Class \u201cB\u201d team ever invited to play in the Class \u201cA\u201d Tournament.\u00a0 Playing the Burlington, Vermont entry, Branford held a comfortable lead but went down in defeat 29-20.<\/p>\n
In 1937, Vic played on the Hornets basketball squad in one of its finest seasons with a 15-4 overall record, including an eight game winning streak and winning 14 of its last 17 games.\u00a0 The 1937 team won the Housatonic League Class B Championship for the second consecutive year and entered the Class B Tournament, becoming the Connecticut Class B Championships for the third consecutive year.\u00a0 Challenging the Class A Runner-Up Bristol team for the right to represent Connecticut in the New England Tournament at Portland, Branford fell to defeat 30-22.<\/p>\n
In 1938, Vic received an alumni scholarship to the University of Connecticut, where he played basketball with 1993 Hall of Famer Yusievicz and another Branford Sports Hall of Famer Bob Donnelly (1989) and simply dominated the Yankee Conference.<\/p>\n
Industrial League basketball was very popular in the 1940\u2019s.\u00a0 Lukawsky played for the M.I.F. team which was always a strong contender and actually won the Industrial League in 1940-41.\u00a0 He also played on American Steel and Wire Company which won their division and included 1989 Branford Sports Hall of Famer Stan Petela on the roster.\u00a0 In semi-pro basketball, tonight\u2019s Peerless Six, inductee played for the Branford Grads, Branford Vets and the Branford Blue Devils.\u00a0 In volleyball, Vic\u2019s team, the Peerless Six won the town championship eight years.\u00a0 In 1970, they also won the \u201ctriple crown\u201d of volleyball by winning the Guilford and Madison tournament as well as the town league.<\/p>\n
A serviceman in the Air Force for four years, Vic and his wife Georgia has three daughters and four grandsons.\u00a0 He was employed by the Connecticut Hardware Supply for 42 years, concluding with 29 years as General Manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cI received other sports awards but this Hall of Fame award, elected by my peers, is the highest pinnacle.\u00a0 This honor will always be special to me.\u00a0 So now I turn another page of my sports life but I will fold the corner down.\u00a0 It will be one of these exceptional pages that I can go back and look at from time to time,\u201d said Lukawsky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":639,"template":"","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee\/638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/inductee"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}