From New York Public Library, shown as the President of the Pacific Northwest League	William Lucas Born: September 1858 Died: September 15, 1912 Goto Baseball Reference for William Lucas Manager Majors: No
	Davenport Position: Manager First game: Last game: # of games:	Manager for Davenport. Article about William Lucas

William Henry Lucas was born in Cleveland in September 1858. He played baseball for clubs in the city befre attending college in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At the age of 19 in 1877, he moved to St. Paul, where he signed to play with the St. Paul Red Caps. In 1884, he was hired by the Chippewa Falls (Wisconson) Base Ball Association to manage the city's club, an opportunity which would change his life, as he ultimately ended up living in Chippewa Falls. He accepted the position, and while the club wasn't very good, he was able to sign Bud Fowler from the Stillwater club in the Northwestern League. ¹

Bud Fowler is considered the first African American to play professional baseball, with his career starting as early as 1878. That he was signed by Lucas was is reported in a an article about Will Lucas published in the Chippewa Herald on July 12, 2012. This article was a major source for this biography.

Lucas returned to Chippewa Falls in 1885, and when the Chippewa Falls club ran into financial trouble, he moved to Duluth. He managed and played for Duluth in the Northwestern League in 1886 and 1887.

In 1888, Lucas managed the club in Davenport, Iowa in the Central Interstate League. In late July, he entered into negotiations to purchase the Minneapolis franchise, and on August 2, terms of the sale were completed. The sale was submitted to the league for approval, but President Sam Morton stalled on calling a meeting of the clubs, and Davenport withdrew the offer on August 7. Reportedly Morton, who was the owner of the Chicago Maroons as well as league president, was negotiating to move the Maroons to Minneapolis. This was the reason the sale was delayed and ultimaely fell apart. A few weeks later, Minneapolis folded (on August 18) and Davenport joined the Western Association one after that. The delay cost Davenport at least two of its top players, as Crossley and McCabe jumped to Milwaukee in early August. Davenport would win just 4 games out of its 25 in the Western Association before folding at the end of September.

Lucas managed the club in Burlington in 1889, playing in the Cetral Interstate League. In 1890, Lucas moved to Tacoma, Washington to help organize the Pacific Northwest League and run the Tacoma club in the league. While he would go west again, by 1892 he was back in Wisconsin, organizing the Wisconsin-Michigan League. He remained in Wisconsin for most of the decade, with the exception of 1893, when he managed the Kansas City club in the Western Association. During this period, he lived in Chippewa Falls working for lumberman E.A. Martin, whose sister Carrie he married in 1897, and helping organize clubs in Chippewa Falls.

After a few years in Chippewa Falls, Lucas headed back west again. He returned to the Pacific Northwest League in 1901, serving as league president from 1901-1903. He continued to move around in baseball, helping organize the Pacific National League, the Puget Sound League, and then serving as president of the Northwestern League from 1906-1910. He died in 1912 while serving as president of the Union Association, based in the Rocky Mountains across Montana, Idaho and Utah.