When a teenage Bubba Luckett was looking for a home to continue his promising basketball career, Christian Brothers High School wasn’t necessarily his top choice.

After starring at White Station Middle as an eighth-grader, Luckett was ruled ineligible for his freshman campaign after his family moved out of the district. He knew of Bill Laurie, who was coaching at CBHS not long after helping Memphis State to a spot in the 1973 NCAA national championship game opposite Bill Walton and UCLA.

But Luckett knew something else, and it rankled him a little.

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“At that time, basketball was something for the athletes to do between football and baseball,” he recalled. “Coach Nix (legendary football coach Tom Nix) would tell an overweight football player, ‘Hey, you’ve got to play basketball in the winter and get yourself in shape.' There wasn’t a lot of emphasis on basketball. It was just, ... you know.

“When I found out this was where I was going to go to school, I told my dad, ‘Dad, I don’t want to go to Christian Brothers. I’m a basketball player.’ No lie. He said, ‘Well, do something about it.’

“And I remember laying in bed that night thinking, ‘He’s challenging me.’”

Luckett did something about it. 

He got into one varsity game at the end of his freshman year and scored 18 points, heralding the arrival of a promising new star in the city. He graduated in 1979 with a host of school records, including the mark for most points (1,677) that stood for 43 years.

After playing at Memphis State on a team that was ranked No. 1 in the country, he came home. And he stayed, pouring his love of basketball and CBHS into future generations for seven years as an assistant under Charlie Leonard and for the last 35 as head coach.

Now, it’s coming to an end.

When the current season concludes, it will be the end of the line for Luckett who has announced his retirement. Ever the optimist, he’s hoping his overachieving squad will be able to make one last playoff run, and the final game will be in the state tournament in early March.

It could come sooner. No one knows for sure, but CBHS is making sure the ultimate Brothers’ Boy gets his proper send-off.

On Friday, Jan. 24, CBHS will celebrate Luckett’s career and honor his legacy. Former players and friends from far and near are expected to attend the game against St. Benedict — tip-off is at 6 p.m. — and the reception to follow.

It should be a grand occasion and no less than what Luckett deserves. The great ones — and to be sure, he is a great one — always know when it’s time. The time has come for Luckett who will turn over the reins to his second-in-command for the last 13 seasons, his son Brad.

“I’ve known coaches who have stayed longer than they should have because they are worried about their replacement,” he said this week. “Not me. A couple of years ago, I was ready to turn it over, and he goes, ‘Dad, I want you to stay.’ I stayed a little longer, and I’m glad I did, to be with him longer.

“But my health, ... I’ve kind of jumped on his back. My health is not suitable for me to hang much longer. I’m surviving, but it’s really hard.” 

Luckett, 63, is battling pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive disease that thickens and stiffens the lung tissue. A lifelong nonsmoker, Luckett has trouble breathing, trouble standing for long periods and is subject to prolonged coughing spells. Former players who’ve come around recently say he’s mellowed. It’s not that; Luckett simply can’t afford to get too excited.

Currently, he’s on a drug that’s designed to slow its progression, and it’s working. Luckett said “he really shouldn’t be here still” based on the time when he was diagnosed. And he’s also part of a trial-study drug that would actually attack the scarring.

“It’s just been a struggle physically,” he said. “The emotional roller-coaster ride, not just of the season but during the course of a game. ... I want to get out of coaching before I literally can’t walk up and down stairs. I want to watch (Brad).”

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The Brothers have won two state championships. The first was in 1987 when Luckett was an assistant under Charlie Leonard and before Tennessee split into separate public and private school classifications. CBHS didn’t get to duck anyone, playing games against the Hamiltons, Melroses and Northsides of the world.

The second came in 2022 and that was one for the record books. Led by current Florida State player Chandler Jackson, who supplanted his coach on the school’s career-scoring list, that team went 28-0. It’s just the third time a Memphis boys basketball team has completed an undefeated season; Melrose (1974) and Hamilton (2006) being the others.

Luckett recalls not long after his team defeated Knoxville Catholic to win the Division 2-AA crown, he got a call from Verties Sails, the legendary coach of that Melrose team.

“You know, there have only been three undefeated teams, ...” Luckett recalls Sails saying.

“Hold it right there,” laughed Luckett, loathe to put his team on par with John Gunn, James Bradley, Alvin Wright and the rest of those legendary Golden Wildcats.

But Sails was correct; that 2022 squad was a terrific team. Luckett’s had his fair share of those, and it’s reflected in his record. Going into Friday’s game, he has 701 victories against 300 losses.

You don’t need one of CBHS’ advanced math courses to figure out that’s really good.

Victory No. 700 came Jan. 14 when the Brothers downed Memphis Home Education Association, 62-50. Luckett is the fourth Shelby-Metro coach to reach that plateau, joining Jerry Peters, Terry Tippett and Fred Horton. He ranks 12th all-time in Tennessee history and has the third-most wins among active coaches.

“I guess I would have been disappointed if my last game had been 699,” Luckett jokes. “‘Wow, man. Could I do one more game maybe?’ After the game, I had already talked with the players, and Brad said to them, ‘I want to tell you something even Coach Luckett doesn’t know about.’

“He said, ‘That was No. 700.’ The only people who knew that were Brad and (former CBHS team manager) Harrison Kane. Harrison is now (John) Calipari’s manager over in Fayetteville, and he called Brad and said, ‘Do you have what I have?’ And Brad goes, ‘700?’

“And he goes, ‘That’s what I’ve got.’ I had no clue.”

Setting aside the physical issues he’s dealing with, this season has been a fulfilling final one for Luckett. He’s never coached a 5-star recruit — Jackson comes the closest — and he’s proud this year’s squad is maximizing its ability to the fullest.

Despite returning only two players who saw significant action last season — senior Carson Chandler and junior B.J. Brown — the Brothers are 14-5. Luckett said he and his staff are squeezing more out of the orange than they ever thought possible.

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“You know, it’s the smallest team I’ve ever coached,” Luckett said. “And we’re getting some contributions right now; we weren’t even sure they would be varsity players. I don’t want to sound like it’s over, but they’ve done far more than I thought they were capable of doing.”

Win or lose, though, it will all come to an end within the next six weeks or so. The coach says he has no regrets; if he had to relive his life, he wouldn’t change a single thing.

“I’ve had a blast,” Luckett said. “I’ve been so fortunate.”

At some point, though, he’ll have to say some tough words to the game of basketball that’s given so much, to the school with which he’s so closely identified, to all of us, really.

Saying goodbye is never easy, as Luckett knows all too well.

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“I’m pretty sure if (Friday was) for sure my last game, it would be really, really emotional,” Luckett said. “We do have a few more games after this, and it will make it a little easier for me. But I’ve thought about what it’s going to be like going to the locker room after my very last game and doing this my whole career; ... it’s definitely going to be emotional.

“My brother (Jamie) passed away a few weeks ago; he was a good player here, too. Me and my two sisters were asked, ‘Would you like to say something?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t think I can.’ I was 99% sure I couldn’t. And as it got closer, I just prayed a lot. ‘Please let me say some of the things I want to say to these people about my brother.’

“I choked up a lot, but I got through it. But I didn’t say all the things I wanted to say. The older I’ve gotten, the more emotional I’ve gotten.”

Luckett’s free time will be well spent. For one, he continues to stay on as a teacher at CBHS, at least for the near term. He has one grandchild, and another that will be arriving soon.

He’ll be as active as his health allows. He’ll be around.

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But he won’t be side by side on the bench with Brad, coaching the Brothers in their annual wars against Briarcrest and MUS. He won’t be poring over scouting reports with his son or game-planning for the next opponent.

Brad Luckett is family. But then again, so is CBHS.

As much as Friday will be devoted to celebrating Luckett, it will also serve as a homecoming of sorts for Brothers’ Boys — now Brothers’ Men — of all stripes. Whether they played basketball or not, they are family as well.

Nobody appreciates that more than Coach Luckett.

“The lifelong friendships,” he said, “the memories. Hank McDowell (Luckett’s former Memphis State teammate) — his son Jake played for me — said to me one time, 'Bubs, do you realize how lucky you guys are? When I go back to Treadwell, the only thing that’s there from when I was there are the bricks.

“‘I come to these basketball games and football games over here, and there’s guys from all years. Hey, how are you doing? Teachers.’ He said, ‘I’m jealous of that.’ There’s a connection to the basketball program and, through that, to the school."

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He never expected to stay at CBHS as long as he has. Luckett figured he’d try coaching for a bit and then use his degree from Memphis State to make a living. An experiment, he says.

But coaching — and CBHS — got into his blood. He had fun and discovered teaching basketball to young men wasn’t merely a job, it was a vocation, a calling.

A Brotherhood.