In 1984 while he was at the Hacienda, the IJA held its festival in Las Vegas, and it provided the beginning of his long association with world records and championships. He won the festival's U.S. National championship, and earlier that same day juggled five clubs for 21:05 to win the numbers championship in a time that surpassed the old Guinness record set by Sergei Ignatov.

 

Lucas counts it is one of his proudest moments because his father was in the crowd to witness the feat. "That's when I had earned his respect as a juggler - on his terms," Lucas said.

 

Since that time he has set world records and has appeared several times in noted publications for his achievements with high numbers of objects. He reveled in his records at one time, but has become more sanguine about their temporal nature and the feuds they tend to provoke as time has passed. He is honored to represent the best that juggling has to offer, but recognizes that records will all be broken, and that he can never do more than set the bar higher for a moment in time.

 

"I don't practice just to set another record or beat someone," he said. "I do it to improve my ability within my profession, much like an artist whose skills are ever-evolving. I suppose that it's only human nature to make comparisons, but in the final analysis that's an issue best left to the public and historians. As far as I'm concerned, my goal has always been to be a good professional and to expand the boundaries of juggling to bring honor to the efforts and legacy of the great champions who came before."

 

He worked at the Hacienda's "Fire & Ice" show until late 1986, when he was injured in a performance and had to take time off to heal. That led to a decade-long business relationship with Anheuser Busch that has seen him perform and direct Busch shows in Williamsburg and Tampa. The relationship has allowed him a flexible schedule that he has used to good advantage. He began a series of successful speaking engagements, which included an invitation from noted author Michael Crighton to deliver the keynote speech at the Aspen Design Conference. He received the only standing ovation of the entire conference, and Crighton later labeled him "a progenitive juggling artist."

 

Lucas was also the first juggler ever invited to speak at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., where he gave a lecture on the 4,000-year history of juggling, as well as an exhibition.

 

Another defining moment in his career came at age 16 during his stint with the Ice Capades. Lucas explained, "I began wondering then if this would be my life - getting up every morning and going to tutoring, then going to publicity calls, practice and the show in the evening. I asked my dad when he thought I would start enjoying it all.

 

"He told me then I didn't have anything left to prove, that I could quit practicing right then if I wanted because I was already good enough to keep getting hired. Then he talked about how juggling is an art, and unlike a business career it doesn't promise a pension or stock options. All we carry home at the end of the day is the pride of performance, that we as variety artists successfully entertained an audience."

 

"At that point I had to decide whether I was in it for the money, to just hang on until something else came along, or whether I really wanted to keep juggling because deep inside that's what I wanted to do. I knew then it was my destiny to control, that no one was making me practice at that point. And since then I've juggled because I love juggling. My father taught me how to juggle, but I learned to love it on my own."

 

Because he loves it, he has learned to adapt his classical act to the modem entertainment medium, which seldom gives it the respect that earlier eras afforded its artistes.

 

"Things are completely different for performers these days," said Lucas. "When I did an intermission show for the Denver Avalanche hockey game recently, they told me the Zamboni was broken and I had to skate around in a certain pattern to stay out of its way. Then they asked me to cut my act from six minutes to four right there on the spot. Jugglers of a former era would never have had to put up with that," Lucas continued, "But I went out and did what they wanted, and felt like I represented my profession well. It was the first time a juggler had ever performed at an NHL playoff game, and when I finished the vice president of the NHL came out and said I was the type of act they wanted in the NHL. The important thing is that all of us can act as good professionals and good representatives of our art, and in .that sense contribute to it just like Bobby May and Trixie and other greats have done."

 

He tries to take a long-term view of the art, and look at himself as another carrier of the water from past to future. His knowledge of juggling and sports history is encyclopedic, and he feels fortunate that his association with juggling has allowed him to meet dozens of world-class athletes and entertainment stars.

 

He has appeared twice in the past few years as the only non-Olympian in a European all-star ice show. During that tour he had the pleasure of teaching Katarina Witt how to juggle and became her morning jogging partner.

 

Having spent so much time around that caliber of athlete, he knows they earn their accolades honestly through sweat and commitment. He loves and respects that work ethic, and won't tolerate anything less for himself in his chosen field. Since the beginning of the year he has been living in central Florida working at Busch Gardens, performing on weekends at NBA and NHL games.

 

What the rubberneckers at Busch Gardens don't see is the several hours a day when Lucas is alone in a nearby gym trying to stretch the limits of his ability - because he loves that, too. "Watching me try to throw and catch 12 beanbags is pretty boring to everyone on the outside, but for me the time flies."

 

He was working this summer toward the IJA festival numbers competition, hoping to demonstrate a 12 ring flash and a qualifying run with 10 rings, as well as eight plates. He also hopes to open doors for his art that future jugglers will pass through without ever knowing they were once closed. He wants juggling to achieve the prestige enjoyed by main-stream entertainment activities, and acts on that dream. He sponsored the IJA Championships Trophy so that winners of the top competition would have as beautiful a trophy to raise as winners in any sport. He has sought the same corporate sponsorship that other athletes enjoy. And he has broadened juggling's scope through his training as a joggler.

 

He chases his personal potential around the track daily, training at joggling because his times are still improving and he wants to see how fast he can become before age begins dictating a slower pace. He has been an invited guest joggler at marathons in New York, Los Angeles, Moscow and Tokyo, competed in dozens of races of shorter duration, and holds the IJA mile relay record, and second best-ever times in the IJA 100 meter and 400 meter races.

 

Because he trains seriously, he has been pleased to find that serious athletes outside the world of juggling take him seriously. Many international track stars preparing for this summer's Olympics were training at the University of South Florida where Lucas also trains, and most are shocked at their first exposure to his seemingly irreverent angle on their honored tradition. But when they come back day after day and find him there again and again, sweating and straining in all seriousness to cut tenths of seconds off of laps, they gain respect for him as a fellow athlete.