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Dock Luckie needs all of his 300 pounds to protect Steve Spurrier from rowdy fans.
By ANTONYA ENGLISH
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 20, 2001
GAINESVILLE -- Dock Luckie considers himself a man with a keen sense of his surroundings.
Sort of a sixth sense, if you will.
As the personal security officer for Florida coach Steve Spurrier, Luckie has needed that intuition over the past seven years. It has saved him many times when debris and curse words started flying from fans sitting high above the field.
"Everywhere we go, somebody throws objects at the coaches and at the football players," Luckie said. "It's frequent, and they throw all kinds of stuff out there on the field. You've got people throwing bottles, beer cans that have not been opened, cups of ice, pieces of iron, silver dollars -- and it hurts when it comes from up top in the stadium. That's why we encourage the athletes to keep their helmets on (when on the sideline)."
Normally, that's about as dangerous as things get. But in the wake of last week's terrorist bombings, the man responsible for protecting Spurrier and the Gator football team knows his job might become tougher.
Florida plays its first road game of the season at 12:30 Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Ky.
"It will be different this weekend because when you talk about what's going on in this global world, you just have to see things differently," said Luckie, a University Police Department officer who has protected Spurrier since 1994. "I'm going to be very, very alert."
Along with another officer, Malcolm Jowers, Luckie coordinates security for Florida's home and away games.
They are meticulous in the details, from bus perimeter checks to stadium security. From the time the players and coaches load buses to the airport until they return and everyone has driven away, Florida's security staff is on alert.
They check rooms where the coaches and players hold meetings, and everywhere in and around the hotel, including crowded hallways and stairways leading to and from rooms. They also ensure no one has tampered with equipment.
Stadiums always are searched before a game, and many, including Florida, have recently implemented plans to close the stadium two days before a game.
"I take nothing for granted," Luckie said. "I look at everybody, older people, even little children. Everybody. Because if the opportunity presents itself, people will do something bad."
And while everything has changed for this nation since Sept. 11, Luckie said much will stay the same with Florida.
"A lot of what we'll be doing, we've been doing all along," Luckie said. "Sometimes we will bring extra officers along with us and when we get up there, let's say we're going to Vanderbilt, we'll have a meeting with their police staff and we'll talk about areas where we would like to assign officers. We just try to have officers all over the stadium."
With Luckie, Spurrier hasn't been hit with one of those flying objects. Spurrier, now in his 12th season, said he feels safe overall.
"Our whole country will be more secure, there will be steps and precautions everywhere," Spurrier said. "It's very unfortunate, the events last Tuesday. Obviously a lot of changes will be made, and it should be a safer world for all of us."
Luckie has two intangibles that help in carrying out his job. He's a former Florida football player (1977-80), so he knows firsthand what SEC stadiums are all about.
"If somebody makes a threat, I can sort of pinpoint where it's coming from and keep an eye out," Luckie said. "Plus we have radios that tune in with other officers and we let each other know what's going on. You never do the same thing over and over, however. Every game is different."
The other, is that he's an imposing figure on the sideline: Luckie is 6 feet 3 and weighs 300 pounds.
"Yeah, that helps," he said, half smiling. "If I identify that something is inappropriate, I go ahead and respond to it. I'm really not too scary, but we have had people jump over the rail, and as they get closer to him (Spurrier), I just look at them kind of ugly and they'll back down. I never think like they might hurt him. They stand at a distance and they say things to him, but you don't let them get too close."
But often, it's not without a few choice words.
"People curse me out, they say all kinds of things," Luckie said. "They can call me Big Foot, Fathead, Doughnut Eater, Coffee Drinker. They can call me anything, but it's not going to get me upset."
Luckie wears a bulletproof vest when he's working. He says he has no qualms about putting himself in harm's way to protect the coach or players, but he tries to make sure procedures are in place to prevent tragedy.
"That's what I'm here for; it's part of my job," Luckie said. "But we never get lax. If you get lax in a secured area, anything can happen. Wherever we go, security is extremely tight, just because you never know."