Columbia, S.C.---George Tucker, the head coach who helped restart the Wingate Junior College football program in the mid-1950s, passed away March 1 at the age of 83. After serving as a college football coach for 10 years, the Monroe, N.C. native moved to Columbia, S.C. and worked as a stock broker until his retirement. Several of his former Wingate players attended funeral services and remembered a coach who had a lasting impact on his players.
 
“Coach Tucker was a great man and a great coach,” George S. Jones (class of ’59) says about his former coach. “He gave young men a tremendous opportunity to get an education and coaching jobs later on through the game of football.”
 
Dr. Don Williams (class of ’59) remembers Tucker as a fair and hard-nosed football coach. “He was hard on you, but you truly felt how much he cared for you as a person,” Williams says. “We learned to respect him for his strength and kindness.”
 
Tucker came to Wingate in 1956 after coaching at Lancaster High School. His job was not an easy one, as he and assistant coaches helped re-establish a Wingate football program which had been dropped in 1941 at the beginning of World War II. By the team’s second season in 1957, Tucker had led the Bulldogs to a 9-1 record as the team finished as state and Region 10 champions. After moving on from Wingate, Tucker was on the coaching staff at Davidson before serving as head coach for five years at Elon before leaving the coaching profession.
 
Marvin Crowder (class of ’60) enrolled at Wingate the year after Tucker left and still noticed his influence on the team. After graduating from Wingate with his associate degree, Crowder went on to play for Tucker at Elon where he finished his collegiate career. “Coach Tucker brought many quality players into the Wingate program,” Crowder says. “He had Shrine Bowl-caliber players coming to Wingate and his handprint was evident on the program even after he left.”
 
Coach Tucker was able to get back to Wingate on various occasions, attending Homecoming events as well as the Sports Hall of Fame induction of former player Jim “Smokey” Gordon (class of ’59). He is one of four former junior college coaches honored in the Legends Lobby of the Edward L. West Athletic Center, constructed in 2007. Gordon has fond memories of keeping in touch with his former coach. “He and his wife (Becky) had a place down at Hilton Head (Island) and several of us would meet up while we were vacationing down there and go out to eat,” Gordon explains. “He was a fine man and a great coach.”
 
WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Wingate University, ranked as the 6th “best value” in the South by U.S. News & World Report, serves nearly 2,700 students on three campuses in Wingate, Matthews and Hendersonville, N.C. Founded in 1896, the University offers 35 undergraduate majors, 37 minors and career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, graduate degrees in business, accounting, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration, and doctorates in pharmacy, physical therapy and education.
 
With a 14 to 1 student/teacher ratio, Wingate students gain the tools and support needed to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. To view current news, video and story ideas, visit www.youtube.com/wingateuniversity. 
 
In addition to a robust intramural athletics program, Wingate student athletes compete in 22 NCAA Division II sports. The University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past six years.
 
Wingate is first among NCAA Division II Academic All-America®-producing private colleges in the 2000’s with 52 selections. Among North Carolina’s colleges and universities, Wingate’s 52 Academic All-America® honorees is second (to Duke University) during this millennium. Wingate’s 61 lifetime Academic All-America® picks are tops among all SAC schools. For more information, go to www.wingatebulldogs.com.
 
(Wingate University class of 2011 graduate Daniel Smith contributed this article. The Oakboro, N.C. native is serving as a graduate assistant for the Wingate Athletic Foundation and the Bulldog Club for the 2012-13 academic year.)