OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Jef Lucero attended Evergreen as a student on and off from the fall of 1992 through the spring of 1999. He spent a couple of the years gaining Washington residency and another year in Americorps. At various times as a student at Evergreen, Lucero was a sports editor for the Cooper Point Journal, hosted a radio show on KAOS, served as the recreational sports coordinator on campus, and was a member of Evergreen's first-ever intercollegiate tennis team (#1 doubles and #2 singles). Later, he was a radio announcer for Geoduck basketball in 2001-02 and was a public address announcer and webcast announcer for Evergreen from 2015-22. As part of our 45-year celebration of Evergreen Athletics, here are a few of Lucero's favorite sports memories as an announcer at Evergreen.

The 2001-02 Men's Basketball Season

In 2001-02, I was the color analyst for Evergreen basketball radio broadcasts alongside Gary Hill, who's now the executive producer and one of the play-by-play voices for the Mariners radio broadcasts. We were still on the radio back then, on KVSN 1340 AM. We even paid our own way to Branson/Point Lookout, Missouri, that season when the men's basketball team qualified for the NAIA National Tournament, so that we could broadcast the games from there.

Highlights from 2001-02:

** Beating Saint Martin's at their place for the third year in a row … We did the broadcast from Marcus Pavilion sitting next to Dick Nichols, the legendary radio voice of South Sound sports for multiple decades.

** Beating Oregon Tech at home … They were the perennial powerhouse in the Cascade Conference, and Evergreen basically destroyed them that night. Gary and I sat in the stands for this one as fans, and The Olympian put a picture of us on the front page of the paper the next day.

** Broadcasting the two games Evergreen played in the NAIA National Tournament in 2002 from the campus of College of the Ozarks near the Missouri/Arkansas border … Evergreen lost in the second round.

Jef Lucero Returns to Evergreen in 2015

I returned to Evergreen as an announcer in 2015 when Nick Dawson was serving as the sports information director. I was doing both public address announcing and play-by-play. I did PA for soccer, volleyball, and basketball, but also did play-by-play for several basketball games between 2015 and 2018. By then, I was also doing play-by-play for Saint Martin's University basketball, even doing both broadcasts regularly for two seasons. But that got to be too much, so I was only doing public address at Evergreen between 2019 and 2022.

Jackie Robinson as a Player and a Coach

From my time announcing, Jackie Robinson was an absolute gem, both as a student-athlete and as a coach. He is a cut above, no doubt about it. Every single time I talked to him, I felt better about life and the world. He's one of the best people I have ever met, period. He was a tremendous player on a great, great team, and an even better coach during his time at Evergreen as well.
 
Chloee Hunt Scores on a Buzzer-Beater

A buzzer-beater by Chloee Hunt beat Pacific Lutheran University in a women's basketball game back in November of 2016. It was unreal. If I'm not mistaken, there were 0.6 seconds on the clock, and she scored off an inbounds play for a one-point win. Make it and win; miss it and lose. It seemed improbable, but she did it. They also rallied from nine down with five minutes left.

Taylor Drey Adds another Buzzer-Beater
About a month after Hunt's winning shot, Taylor Drey won a game for the Evergreen men's basketball team with a 30-foot, three-pointer at the buzzer to beat Warner Pacific University by two points. It was a similar situation: make it and win; miss it and lose.

Nate Menafee Scores 57 Points at Puget Sound

This one's kind of an outlier, because I wasn't announcing for Evergreen at the time. It was the first college game where I did public address for any sport. It was an Evergreen basketball game at the University of Puget Sound in November of 2009, and Evergreen's Nate Menafee scored 57 points in that game (Note: Menafee set the Geoducks' single-game scoring record).

I was brand new, just starting out as the PA announcer for Puget Sound. Menafee scored 24 in the first half alone. At the scorer's table at halftime, we were asking each other, "What's he going to do in the second half?" He answered by scoring another 33 points. It was just an unreal performance.

I've gone on to announce well over 1,000 more college games, in many different sports at all levels of college athletics since then, and to this day that's still the single greatest individual performance in a game that I announced. That it happened in the first college game where I was the PA announcer remains incredible to me.

General Comments about Geoduck Athletics

I am very happy to see that Evergreen continues to look into its past and honor those who led the way … by working diligently to enshrine teams and individuals into its Hall of Fame. Evergreen has a rich athletic history, and it's critical that we recognize those who represented our school so well.

I also really appreciate Elizabeth McHugh, Director of Student Wellness, Recreation, and Athletics, for all that she's doing for Evergreen. She is a wonderful leader and an amazing person, and Evergreen is much better off thanks to her presence and dedication.