Daily Inspiration: Meet Michael Lucas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Lucas.

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started my media career as an overnight producer in Bristol, VA. I didn’t have any offers to do full-time sports reporting coming out of college, but the news director in Virginia told me if I started as an overnight producer, I’d get a chance to help out with sports when I could. I jumped at that opportunity and made the most of it, and after about a year on the overnight shift, was promoted to a day-time reporter spot doing both sports & news. I hated news and knew I wanted to do sports, so I kept doing split duty until the opportunity came for me to leave Virginia and do sports full-time in College Station, Texas. I was in Texas for 3 years until I heard about the preliminary idea for the Ultimate Sports Show project Tegna was launching, and knew I had to be part of that. I applied for the position before it moved locations from Dallas to Cleveland and believed in the project enough to move with it from Dallas to Cleveland. I’ve been the lead producer for UCSS now for almost two years and am loving every second of it. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s never smooth, but that’s what makes the journey so rewarding. I didn’t think I’d ever do overnight news. I never wanted to do news in the first place. But I had to do it to get to where I am today. Working in sports has the highest of highs, but it’s not an easy lifestyle, and the schedule is definitely not the easiest to work around. In the end, though, I love what I do, I enjoy coming to work every day, and that’s made all the obstacles worth it. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m most proud of helping build the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show from the ground up into what it’s become today. Our goal is to entertain people through sports discussions related to the city’s major teams. 

It started as a blank canvas. I was employee #2 on the project, just behind my Executive Producer. We had big visions and ideas, but we weren’t sure what would actually come to fruition. 

Fast forward 18 months, and it’s surpassed my wildest expectations, and seeing how it’s all come together has been pretty special. 

We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I played college basketball at Emerson College for former Ohio State head coach Jim O’Brien. To this day, if coach OB called me out of the blue and told me to jump off a roof, I’d do. I’d run through a wall for him. To this day, you can still find me playing at local runs all over the city. I don’t move like I used to, but the jumper is still pure. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.youtube.com/@UltimateClevelandSportsShow
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mlukes14/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lucas-b4095887/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeLucasTV
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UltimateClevelandSportsShow