Mike Lucci, Pro Bowl player with Detroit Lions, dies at 81

Posted October 26, 2021 7:00 am

The Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) - Mike Lucci, a Pro Bowl linebacker who played nine seasons with the Detroit Lions, died Tuesday at age 81.

Lucci died after an extended illness, according to an obituary posted by Glick Family Funeral Home in Boca Raton, Florida.

Lucci was drafted by Cleveland, but spent most of his 12-year NFL career with the Lions, from 1965-73.

'œMany will remember Mike for his toughness as a player during his nine seasons with the Lions, earning Pro Bowl honors in 1971 and being named the team's defensive MVP three times,'ť Detroit owner Sheila Ford Hamp said in a statement.

Lucci, a native of Ambridge, Pennsylvania, got a football scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh but transferred and played three seasons at Tennessee.

After his NFL career, Lucci was a radio and TV broadcaster and businessman. He was president of Bally's Total Fitness and co-owned 19 Burger Kings in Michigan and Illinois.

Lucci appeared in the 1968 movie 'œPaper Lion,'ť about writer George Plimpton's tryout with the Lions.

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