Dave Luecke Retires After 30 Years Of Teaching And Coaching Missouri’s Youth

Dave Luecke retired from Rockwood School District after 30 years of teaching industrial arts. Dave taught in the Rockwood School District at Eureka High school for the last nine years. Prior to Eureka, he taught at New Haven High School for 21 years.

He has introduced many students to the world of woodworking, drafting and metalworking.  Nothing has been more rewarding than seeing a student’s satisfaction when finishing a project. Personally, it was awesome for him to see many of his students go on to enter the trades and have careers and some even starting their own businesses in the field of industrial arts.

As a young boy, Dave’s grandfathers, Albert Luecke and Walter Branson, gave him that first glance at woodworking. From that point on, he was hooked. Dave attended Central Missouri State and earned his teaching degree in Industrial Arts. He took over New Haven’s program after Mr. Karim retired in 1991.

Luecke taught at New Haven from 1991-2012. He then took a position at Eureka High School in the Rockwood School District teaching Industrial Arts. Dave was instrumental in starting the Geometry in Construction Classes. Tiny house projects were done by all the departments in the Rockwood Industrial Arts Departments. These were designed as transitional homes for the homeless in St. Louis.

While at Eureka, Dave was nominated for the ROSE AWARD, Rockwood’s Outstanding Service in Education.

Dave also coached girl’s basketball at Eureka High and New Haven High. He also assisted in track and field at both schools. He was the assistant coach with head coach Mel Schmidt when a 28-4 season produced New Haven High Schools one and only Girls Basketball State championship. Through the years, a couple more state titles were pursued at New Haven with Dave being head coach and Doug Pierick the assistant coach. In 2012, they earned a second place finish with a .500 team.

With John Tucker in 2002, he was assistant coach for Track and Field and helped them win the Girl’s State Championship in Track and Field. He coached Track and Field for several years at New Haven and one year in Eureka.

Dave is happy to be back in New Haven helping the community through his talents. He looks forward to watching his daughter play high school basketball, track, and volleyball from the bleachers.  His son, Ben, serves in the Air Force and wife Lu Ann works with Dave at the Lizzy Lu Custom Wreaths and Luecke Woodworks Shop in Downtown New Haven.