John D. Lukacs

Writer, adventurer, historian and documentary filmmaker John D. Lukacs specializes in one-of-a-kind stories--the unusual, the unprecedented and the virtually unknown. His latest work is a collaboration with his friend and mentor Beano Cook on the late college football commentator's memoirs, "Haven't They Suffered Enough?: An Unbelievable Career in Sports, PR and Television," published in October 2021. His first book, "Escape From Davao: The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific War," was called "a most impressive authorial debut" by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and "diligent, impassioned history" by Booklist. Lukacs's first documentary film, titled "4-4-43," aired on PBS and APT and was an official selection of the 2014 GI Film Festival. Recognized as a "gifted stylist and storyteller" and a "top-notch non-fiction writer," his work has appeared in USA Today, The New York Times, World War II Magazine and on ESPN.com. Lukacs has appeared on ESPN College Gameday, Outside the Lines, The Paul Finebaum Show, NPR, C-SPAN's BookTV and on many other television/radio shows and Internet podcasts. A hands-on military historian who enjoys forensic documentary research and believes that first-hand knowledge of a geographical location is essential to fashioning a riveting narrative, he has explored World War II battlefields and historic sites throughout both Europe and the Pacific, including: Attu, the Ardennes, Bastogne, Bataan, Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden, Cabanatuan, Corregidor, Coral Sea, Dachau, Davao, Dutch Harbor, Fiji, Guadalcanal, Guam, Hiroshima, Hong Kong, Iwo Jima, Kiska, Manila, Midway, the Maginot Line, the New Hebrides, Paris, Pearl Harbor, Okinawa, Rabaul, Reims, Saipan, the Siegfried Line, Singapore, Tarawa, Truk and Wake Island. Lukacs received the 2011 Senator John Heinz Community Advocate Award from the Veterans Leadership Program of Pittsburgh. As a sportswriter, Lukacs covered Notre Dame football for Blue & Gold Illustrated from 1996-1998 and worked as the creative and historical consultant to ESPN College GameDay from 2002-2010. A former resident of New York City's famed Hotel Chelsea, Lukacs is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He lives in Western Pennsylvania.