Lutzie 43 Foundation promotes safe driving, honors former football standout

AUBURN, Ala. – Eleven years after losing his son as a passenger in a crash, Mike Lutzenkirchen promotes safe driving across the Southeast, hoping to spare others the pain his family has endured.

A month after former Auburn tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen passed away in 2014, a high school coach in Georgia asked Mike to speak to his team. College coaches began reaching out, which attracted media attention. 

The Lutzie 43 Foundation, a reference to Philip’s jersey number at Auburn, was born. Three years later, Mike introduced an initiative called 43 Key Seconds, handing out keys to young drivers he visits inscribed with “43 Key Seconds” on one side and “43 to Distracted Free” on the other.

“Take 43 key seconds to say, ‘I’m not going to be distracted, impaired or unsafe.’ Make sure you’ve got a clear head, clear hands and clear eyes, and click it,” said Mike. “What does a clear head mean? It means you ask yourself before you start your vehicle, ‘Am I drug impaired? Alcohol impaired? Am I fatigued? Emotionally impaired? Am I technology impaired? 

“If you’re any one of those, you have to have the maturity or common sense to say I’m not ready to drive. It seems to be resonating.”

Since that first talk in 2014, Mike has shared his son’s story hundreds of times to hundreds of thousands of high school and college students. 

He’s also produced 29 five-hour safe driving summits, attended by more than 19,000 students, with input from law enforcement, first responders, trucking companies and emergency room staff.  

“It continues to grow,” he said. “We’re blessed to keep growing Philip’s name and honor. It’s honoring Philip every time I go out and do a summit.”

Each talk begins with a five-minute video produced by Auburn Athletics’ War Eagle Productions, introducing Philip to the audience. 

“It tells every audience who I’m going to be talking about,” Mike said. “This is a real life. I think that’s why it’s making an impact, is the human element.”

Driven to reduce the number of lives lost annually in America to unsafe driving – more than 40,000 last year – Mike Lutzenkirchen presses on.

“That’s what gives us the passion,” he said. “To say, how do we reduce that number? What if we could take it from 45 to 40, to 35, to 30, and start saving these lives? That’s the motivation.”

June 29 is a hard day for the Lutzenkirchen family, the anniversary of the crash that took Philip’s life. 

“I wish he had shown leadership that weekend at that farm when he first got there,” Mike said, “and said, ‘Everybody give me your keys and you’ll get them back Sunday when we decide to leave.’” 

While forming the foundation’s motto, the Lutzenkirchens initially landed on ‘Love like Lutz, Live like Lutz, Lead like Lutz’, but when Mike learned of Philip’s high blood alcohol concentration at the time of his death, they pivoted from ‘Lead like’ to ‘Learn from.’

“I don’t care what the number is. It doesn’t change the story,” Mike said. “He didn’t show leadership that weekend. I switched lead to learn. That seems to resonate.”

Mike Lutzenkirchen says support from the Auburn family over the years has been “precious and valuable,” mentioning university president Dr. Chris Roberts, athletic director John Cohen and men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl.

Partnering with Auburn’s School of Communication and Journalism, the Lutzie 43 Foundation sponsors a public speaking competition each fall and spring, growing from a couple hundred participants in its March 2017 launch to approximately 2,000 this semester. 

Since its founding, 15 Philip Lutzenkirchen Excellence in Public Speaking Award winners have received $4,300 awards in honor of Philip, an Auburn communication graduate.

Mike also speaks each semester to first-year fraternity members in a mandatory “Auburn Man” series.

“I do a one-hour talk called ‘Philip’s legacy: What legacy are you leaving?’” said Mike, whose next goal is for southeastern states to designate April 3 as Lutzie 43 Road Safety Day.

Now in its second decade, the Lutzie 43 Foundation, in addition to the safe driving curriculum, also awards Prepared For Life scholarships to college students, the initials corresponding to the name Philip Francis Lutzenkirchen. The foundation awarded 20 PFL scholarships at its annual golf tournament May 8 at Purcell Farms in Sylacauga, Alabama, bringing the total to 135 worth $564,000 in the past 10 years. 

On Aug. 2, the Lutzenkirchen family will gather in Marietta, Georgia, on the 43-yard line at Lassister High School’s Lutzie Field for the 11th annual road race in Philip’s honor, while virtual runners can participate from anywhere.

When Auburn hosts Alabama Nov. 29 for the Iron Bowl, 15 years will have passed since Cam Newton’s touchdown pass to Philip and Wes Byrum’s extra point completed the Tigers’ epic 28-27 comeback in 2010, a moment that forever connected a player with a program.

For Phillip Lutzenkirchen, the connection had already been made.

“He loved people. He loved Auburn, loved the community, the school,” said Mike, recalling a conversation with his son during Philip’s recruitment. “’Dad if I can’t play, for whatever reason, that’s where I want to be.’”

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer