Larry Tucker
Episode 280
10 JUNE 2024
He was chosen by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the eighth round of the 1983 NBA Draft. He has been enshrined in both the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Valley Conference Hall of Fame. He is the Lewis University men’s basketball all-time scoring leader and helped the program to its first conference championship and to their first two NCAA Tournament berths. Present day he is the president of Marist High School, a Catholic institution in Chicago where the SportsPlex was named after him this past December, having been their principal for 22 years and a basketball player back in his days as a student-athlete there.
Notable guest quotes:
“We went to church on a regular basis every Sunday, holy days as well. My mom would have us say novenas sometimes at home when there was a family member who maybe had an illness or something and just those values were placed in us. Church was always something we did as a family.”
“I started to get on the radar. I was growing to 6’6” and I was on the radar of some division one basketball scouts.”
“I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to do the best that I possibly can with the God given talents I’ve been given, to try and make something of this’.”
“Eloise Saperstein… was my agent and her father, Abe Saperstein, had started the Harlem Globetrotters. I was pretty excited that out of the blue, this woman came in with a pretty good basketball pedigree, I would say, and wanted to represent me with the potential that I might get drafted.”
“I was depressed. I think that depression lasted for months and when you don’t think there’s a plan, I mean, God has a plan for you.”
“I came to Marist and that was kind of, you know, a pretty pivotal moment in my life that sent me on what I would say is a pretty good career path and again I think God just puts people in your path.”
“I’m sitting in the car and I’m driving an hour each way to school, and the morning I spent an hour in prayer, and it just calmed me by the time I got to school I felt confident… and I think just put me on a good path to start my day each morning.”
“The important part is paying attention to what God is doing and who God is putting in your life to help you make some of the decisions that you need to make, and you’re not alone, and there is a plan.”
“(My son) had a couple of coaches at U of I, one of them was Lovie Smith, who we knew from coaching the Chicago Bears, and Ryan had a unique relationship with Lovie Smith. They would have conversations where Coach Smith would call Ryan into his office and just say to him, ‘Ryan, you just need to tell me, is the Holy Spirit alive in this locker room?’”
