Barb and Ace Lucchesi were great MTU hockey fans for many years. The MTU hockey teams of the 70’s and 80’s shared some great successes on and off the ice and one of the special times and memories off the ice was with Barb and Ace at their annual Spring Hockey Huskies chicken barbeque hosted at their home on Baraga Avenue is West Houghton.

Names like Scott Jesse, Bob D’alvise, Mike Zuke, Graham Wise, Lauren Stamler, Jim Warden, Billy Steele and many others learned how to cook barbeque chicken on Ace’s special grills make from old oil barrels with those special racks he made from chicken wire that held up to 30 chicken halves each. Ace had his special secret sauce he slopped on the chicken with a very special applicator he purchased new every year, which was actually a cloth/fabric toilet bowl cleaner. Ace taught the guys the art of flipping the entire rack full of chicken without dropping them on the ground… the technique was tough and he graded the “assigned chicken flippers” on their performance.

While the chicken was handled by the boys, Barb was whirling about the kitchen putting together a mountain size serving of spaghetti with her homemade sauce as well as a huge salad and garlic bread for all. They loved doing this special day for “the boys,” and the I think the boys loved it too.

Side bar: Scott Jesse’s 1975 Jeep is still owned by their son Michael “Jet” Lucchessi . Jet, Dino, Cathy and Jet all have great memories of that annual chicken barbeque.

Barb was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in the late 80’s and battled it for 18 years before passing away in 2007. Ace was always at her side and cared for her daily to the end. Sadly, Ace passed away suddenly last August and he too will be missed by many.

Thanks for letting me share this.

Best regards,
Don Morin