Books by Dr. John Apostal Lucas
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Author Profile
Dr. John Apostal Lucas
John A. Lucas, Professor Emeritus at Penn State University, has written over 200 articles and books on the history of physical activity, track and field, and the Olympics. He has gained perspective by participating in a 10,000 meter Olympic trials, coaching track and field in the public schools and at Penn State University, and attending every Summer Olympics for a half-century.
Lucas' background has led him to interesting sport involvement with, among others, the great athlete Babe Didricson, Olympic decathlete Rafer Johnson, the widow of Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin, filmmaker Bud Greenspan, and International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, from which he received the honored "Olympic Order."
For seven decades he has taken physical activity seriously and has logged over 165,000 miles as a runner. His travels have taken him to all the habitable continents, often speaking about the Olympics. He received the Olympic Order from Samaranch in 1996.
Though now over 80 years of age, he still teaches a Penn State course on the history of the Olympics and is still out running.
Review:
“In 1962, John Lucas defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Maryland on “Pierre de Coubertin and the Formative Years of the Modern Olympic Movement.” Almost a half century later, following 8 books and some 250 scholarly articles on Olympic history, comes this book, “The Best of John Lucas,” compiled by the world’s doyen of seriously researched, thoroughly documented, and passionately written Olympic history.”
Dr. Robert Barney, founder of Olympica: The International Journal of Olympic Studies, past-pres. of the North American Society for Sport History
(receiving the Olympic Order from Samaranch in 1996)
IN THE PRESS:
