Tucker, decorated Vol in baseball, dies

Bobby Tucker, the only four-time All-SEC baseball player at the University of Tennessee, died Saturday at his home in Cordova, the school said Tuesday. He was 62. Mr. Tucker played for the Vols from 1970-73, earning first-team American Baseball Coaches Association All-America honors as a senior and All-SEC all four seasons — three times as an outfielder, once as a first baseman. He hit .400 with 13 home runs and a .800 slugging percentage during his senior season, helping the Vols to a 20-15 record and second place in the SEC East . Mr. Tucker holds the program record for career slugging percentage (.721) and ranks fourth in batting average (. 389), fifth in home runs (34) and eighth in RBIs (147). He also holds UT’s freshman batting average record (.406). He also is a member of the Tennessee Baseball All-Century Team. Mr. Tucker was an Academic All-American in 1972 and 1973 and made the SEC Academic Honor Roll from 1971-73. He represented the United States in the 1972 Baseball World Cup in Nicaragua. He was a 15th-round selection by the Chicago White Sox in the 1973 major league draft and played in the minor leagues for three seasons. Mr. Tucker is survived by his wife, Diane, his son Robby and wife Ashton, his mother, Mary, two sisters, Sandra Lewis and Patricia McGregor, and one brother, Johnny. The family will receive friends from 12-2 p.m. Central on Wednesday with a service to follow at 2 p.m. at the Memphis Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, 2700 N. Germantown Pkwy., in Bartlett.