2020 Senior Spotlight: Luke Wickersham

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 27, 2020

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg Sports Zone will be running senior spotlights through April and May everyday (Monday through Friday) in an effort to honor seniors who had their seasons taken away due to the spread of COVID-19.

Last season, Luke Wickersham moved back and forth between the junior varsity and varsity golf teams, but this year he was looking forward to earning that varsity spot for the entire season.

Wickersham, who helped the Wildcats to a first place finish at Paola last year, saw all the success the Wildcats had in the postseason and he wanted to be a part of the Louisburg team that returned to state for the second year in a row.

“I was extremely looking forward to it,” Wickersham said. “We had a really good varsity this year and I think we would have gone to state again without a question.”

The Wildcats won’t ever get to know what happened with the cancellation of spring sports due to the spread of COVID-19. Eight seniors lined the Louisburg golf roster and it was all set to be one of the most memorable seasons in school history.

“I have just been dealing with it like everyone else has, doing my school work and trying to keep busy,” Wickersham said. “I’ll still go golfing with the guys like we always have and I work for the City of Louisburg to keep myself busy. There were a lot of seniors on this year’s golf team and it was a special class.”

It is that senior class that helped Wickersham get involved with the sport in the first place as golf really wasn’t on his radar screen growing up.

“I haven’t been playing it very long at all – maybe two-and-a-half years is about all,” Wickersham said. “I used to go with my friends to just mess around and I never was good because I was just messing around. I guess I just started having lots of fun and decided to try and get better at the sport and I did. I still have lots of areas of improvement, but I like it because of the comradery with your friends.”

Even though the ending to his high school career wasn’t what he was hoping for, he still has a lot of great memories from his time with the Louisburg program, including one in particular.

“My favorite moment was when it was my first tourney ever and they wanted me to get experience at a JV tournament so I would be better at the varsity ones,” Wickersham said. “It was a par 5 and I was on the green in four. I had like an 18-foot putt and Coach (Barry) O’Brien was on the other side of the green watching. I made the putt and he yelled to me ‘Luuuke, I am your Father.’ We had a running joke that if I left a putt short he would call me Leia, because of the Star Wars reference.”

Other than golf, Louisburg Sports Zone also had a chance to catch up with Luke on how he has been coping with an early end to his senior year and some of his other interests. Here are his responses from the rest of our Q&A.

LSZ: What have you been missing the most during this time away from everyone?

LW: I really miss the comradery of the senior varsity golf team. I do miss school because I got to see people, talk and have fun with all of my classmates.

LSZ: What is your favorite activity/hobby outside of sports and why?

LW: I like to hang out with friends and further my studies in aeronautics.

LSZ: What are your plans for after graduation?

LW: Plans are to attend Kansas State University and major to be a professional pilot.

LSZ: What accomplishments that don’t involve athletics are you most proud of and why?

LW: Not really much, but I have been on the principal’s honor roll for the past two years since Mr. Holloway became principal.

LSZ: What do you think would be something that a lot of people don’t know about you?

LW: People don’t know that I am going into the field of aviation.

Luke’s Favorites

Pro athlete: N/A

Pro team: Kansas City Chiefs

College team: Kansas State

Movie: Saving Private Ryan

TV Show: Seal Team

Song: Simple Man by Charlie Daniels

Band/Musician: Blake Shelton

Pregame meal/snack: Trail Mix

Class/subject: Math

Teacher and why: Kasitz – Chief is just a funny guy who doesn’t get caught up in all the common core stuff and just does his one thing and method of teaching.