Former Dartmouth quarterback Ed Lucas '04, who gave up football to pursue a baseball career, is playing this year with the New Orleans Zephyrs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. According to the Times-Picayune, the onetime Dartmouth shortstop is slated to be back at that position after playing much of his pro career at third base. From the story:
Ed Lucas will take his place at shortstop. Lucas was signed as a free agent in December. He spent all of last season at Triple-A Salt Lake, hitting .262 with 12 home runs and 52 RBIs in 118 games.The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Lucas has flirted with the big leagues on numerous occasions but is yet to make his major league debut. Find his current stats here and a revealing story from when he very nearly made the Atlanta Braves roster several years ago here. From that story:
“Ed Lucas, if he chooses, will have a future in baseball. It might not be as a player though. He has the type of mind that we could see running a ball club some day. He was an Ivy League graduate of Dartmouth University in 2004 with a Sociology degree. A popular player with his teammates and a solid minor league baseball player he has worked his way up the organizational ladder since the Royals took him in the 8th round of the 2004 draft.
He can play every position on the field except catcher and he has always been able to hit.”
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Former linebacker Gordy Quist '02 and Austin, Texas-based The Band of Heathens will be at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Mass., tonight at 7. I'll be there with Mrs. BGA as will at least a couple of Gordy's friends from the Upper Valley. The Iron Horse, a terrific venue where we caught Gordy, former defensive back Trevor Nealon '02 and TBoH last year, bills the group this way:Austin's Band of Heathens is constantly being compared to The Band because of the musical finesse that overlays their timeless, rootsy core. And the three founding members are all skilled multi-instrumentalists who can play almost any position in the field. But TBoH has reached so many fans so fast because of the echoes of and subtle homage to so many different artists at the core of the Americana canon, including Tom Petty, Tony Joe White, the Grateful Dead, Leon Russell, George Harrison, and other rarified stylists. You can hear a little of all that at a Heathens show or on disc, and Top Hat Crown & the Clapmaster’s Son, their latest, feels like the most coherent and mature encapsulation of those elements so far.
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He's not a football player, but another alum I did a lengthy feature on in the past, Ben True '08, has been making headlines in the running world. Last weekend he placed sixth in the World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, helping the United States to a surprising silver medal. Find a story here. True was the first non-African finisher.True chose running over Nordic skiing after a terrific two-sport career at Dartmouth.
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In what could only be described as a shocker, very successful Dartmouth men's soccer coach Jeff Cook is stepping down to follow his dream of a career in the pro game. Cook, who helped Dartmouth to five Ivy League titles and seven NCAA Tournament appearances in 12 years, will head up the MLS Philadelphia Union Youth Academy. Find the college's official release here.In a follow story in this morning's local daily, Cook explains that he's long harbored the dream of working in the pro game and felt he'd reached a now-or-never point in his career. He leaves Dartmouth with a 106-74-1 career record.
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Kudos to the Brown football team, which will be holding its fourth-annual Be The Match bone marrow donor testing day on Tuesday. Last year Brown defensive back Matt Shannon was identified as an 80,000-1 genetic match and donated marrow to save a man's life.
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Penn holds its spring game tomorrow. Dartmouth, remember, starts spring practice on Tuesday.