Brian Tucker

1945 - 2019

(News story) BOWLING GREEN - Brian Tucker, who introduced his Bowling Green High School students to their potential, in his social studies classroom and on the cross-country course, died Dec. 26 in Bridge Hospice Center in Bowling Green. He was 74.

He was in declining health for more than a year, his son Chris Tucker said.

Mr. Tucker taught and coached for more than 40 years at Bowling Green High School. His boys' cross-country teams of the 1980s had a notable stretch of success, including journeys to the state finals. In the 2000s, his girls' cross-country teams won three successive state Division I titles.

He deflected credit in a 2008 Blade interview, saying that to be successful coaching "you've got to have some horses ... Sometimes they" - talented athletes - "just walk through your door."

Jeff Boutelle, who ran for Mr. Tucker said, "He was a pretty humble person."

"He had this engaging personality. He was laid back, welcoming, not judgmental," said Mr. Boutelle, a 1981 Bowling Green High graduate.

"The way he led, he wasn't overbearing, but he was steady," said Mr. Boutelle, now chief executive of Pharmavite, which makes Nature Made vitamins. "He set the goals and high standards, and you wanted to achieve the high standards for him, and if you didn't you kind of felt you let him down."

Mr. Tucker was a 2010 inductee to the Ohio Cross Country and Track Coaches Hall of Fame. He also coached track and girls' basketball. He also was a baseball and softball umpire in Bowling Green.

Since his death, former students from across the decades, via social media, have extolled his lasting influence.

"He had an uncanny way of knowing or seeing in a kid some potential or even in a leadership role," his son said.

Eric Willman, a former student, recalled driving the bus taking Mr. Tucker and his ninth-grade girls to a basketball game.

"He gave the most awe-inspiring speech to those ninth-grade girls," Mr. Willman said. The team filed out, and Mr. Tucker, leaning in, said to Mr. Willman, "We're going to get slaughtered."

The score was lopsided, but back on the bus, Mr. Tucker said, "'I'm proud of you girls. You worked the systems we practiced, but they were better than we were,'" Mr. Willman recalled. "That's the kind of coach he was."

He infused his social studies classes with humor. An American government class he team taught with colleague Mike Watkins was known by students as the Tucker-Watkins Comedy Hour.

Alan Mayberry, a Wood County common pleas judge and a former Wood County prosecutor, wrote online, "My 40 years working in the law is part of his legacy."

"A mock trial we did was impactful for me," the judge said Friday. "There weren't that many classes I loved preparing for as I did that. He was one of a kind."

He was born Nov. 20, 1945, in Detroit to Bess and Ira Tucker. The family settled in Bowling Green during his grade school years. He was a graduate of Temple City Senior High School in California and attended Pasadena City College. He had bachelor's and master's degrees from Bowling Green State University.

He and the former Nancy Chappell married July 9, 1966. She died Jan. 23, 2014.

Surviving are his sons Chris, Timm, Lynn, and Scott Tucker, and nine grandchildren.

Visitation will begin at noon Friday with a celebration of life service beginning at 3 p.m. in First Christian Church, Bowling Green, where he was a member. Arrangements are by Dunn Funeral Home in Bowling Green.

The family suggests tributes to the Wood County Humane Society.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.