April 24, 2009

By Jenna Marina
Athletic Communications Assistant

EASTON, Pa. - As a biochemical engineer, he worked with a live HIV virus. As a reproductive endocrinologist for Disney's Animal Kingdom, he tested elephant dung to detect female hormone levels.

Yet if you're ranking Lafayette graduate Joe Luke's greatest completed tasks to date, consider this: he scored the game-tying touchdown against his team's biggest rival in a 7-7 "sister kisser" on Nov. 25, 1993.

"The instant before I scored, I remember seeing a red blur diving at me, trying to tackle me at the one (yard line), and jumping over him," Luke recalled.

For that very reason, a lot of Easton players are looking forward to meeting the former Phillipsburg star and Leopards wide receiver on the field when Phillipsburg and Easton square off once more in Gatorade's 1993 Replay Game held at Fisher Stadium on Sunday.

Since the announcement of the replay game, several former Red Rovers have been asked who they most look forward to playing against and Luke's name continues to pop up.

"I tend to be outspoken on the field," Luke said with a laugh. "I'm looking forward to getting back out there and I really don't mind that at all. It just motivates me to play extremely well."

Luke works in Philadelphia, far enough removed from the Lehigh Valley that when he started receiving cryptic "Are you in?" and "Are you playing?" text messages from friends several months ago, he had no idea what they were talking about.

"Finally I called one of my friends and he said they're thinking of replaying the 1993 game," Luke said. "It was quite a shock."

But of course he was in, and that was something he had a hard time explaining to his colleagues at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

After graduating from Lafayette with a degree in Biology, Luke has worked his way to becoming the U.S. Regional Study Manager for different studies in infectious disease. Basically, he oversees trials that his company sponsors which give patients drugs not yet legal in the United States. Throughout a very lengthy process, if the drugs are proven safe and effective, they become legal.

Joe Luke scored Phillipsburg's game-tying touchdown in the 1993 Easton-Phillipsburg game.

Needless to say, his co-workers had a difficult time understanding why a 32-year-old would go back to his hometown to don pads for a football game.

"I sent them all the link on Mission G to watch the documentary about the game," he said. "I don't think it was until they saw some of the pictures and images of how intense the fans were that they understood how serious this really was. They started to get the idea that sports, especially football, dominate the community."

Now, those co-workers will comprise part of Luke's fan club in the stands on Sunday.

He has attended practices every weekend since Feb. 21, when there was still snow on the ground at Phillipsburg's fields. The team has also practiced on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Gatorade's training partner, Velocity Sports Performance, but because Luke lives in Philadelphia, he hasn't been able to attend.

"We thought we would sort of be gradually introduced to working out again but they got right into as if we were back at football camp in August," he said. "It was a wakeup call that this was serious and that it wasn't to put on a show. We're here to win and we're here to play."

Though the physical part of this game may be the biggest challenge, the team chemistry has gelled effortlessly.

"We all picked up as if we were coming back from summer vacation," he said.

Since his high school days, Luke has kept in touch with some of his teammates and even some of his mortal enemies. Two of his former Leopard teammates, one a Stateliner (Leonard Moore) and one a Red Rover (Justin Rouse), will be groomsmen in his upcoming July wedding.

Luke said he tries to attend the Phillipsburg-Easton game every once in a while and did make it to this past year's game, but prior to that it had been several years since he made the pilgrimage to Fisher Stadium.

"It's not that I don't want to come but I get nostalgic about going there," he said. "It's part of my life that I enjoyed. It's kind of difficult for me to go back to a part of my life that I wish I was still doing."

For one day, that wish will come true.