Bob Tucker

Giants playmaker with great hands

- JOHN FENNELLY

The New York Giants have always been known for their penchant to find tight ends. They currently have Evan Engram, a rare combination of size and speed, even if he is maddeningly inconsistent. In the prior decade, there were Jeremy Shockey and Kevin Boss.

Howard Cross played 207 games for the Giants from 1989 through 2001. Aaron Thomas played nine seasons for the Giants from 1962-1970 and averaged 17.2 yards per catch.

In the 1980s, Mark Bavaro was a Pro Bowler who redefined the position as a productive, rough and tumble player and was a staple on two Super Bowl teams. Bavaro had a solid complementary player alongside him in Zeke Mowatt, who scored the first touchdown in Giants’ Super Bowl history.

But in-between all those guys, the Giants had another talented player at tight end. Bob Tucker came to the Giants as a free agent in the summer of 1970 from the ranks of the semi-pro Atlantic Coast Football League by way of obscure Bloomsburg College.

Tucker, a six-foot-three, 230-pound native of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, made the Giants’ roster that summer at age 25. One year before, he was playing semi-pro ball and teaching biology in a high school in Massachusetts. He joined an offense that bragged future Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton, running backs Ron Johnson and Tucker Frederickson, and wide receiver Clifton McNeil.