Gerald Tucker (March 14, 1922 – May 29, 1979) was the head coach on the 1956 USA Men's Basketball Gold Medal Olympic Team. He was the coach of

Bartlesville Phillips 66ers The Phillips 66ers (also known as the Oilers) were an amateur basketball team located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, sponsored and run by the Phillips Petroleum Company. The 66ers were a national phenomenon that grew from a small-town team to an orga ...

for four seasons from 1954 to 1958 having the most wins in the

National Industrial Basketball League The National Industrial Basketball League was founded in 1947 to enable U.S. mill workers a chance to compete in basketball. The league was founded by the industrial teams (teams sponsored by the large companies and made up of their employees) bel ...

(NIBL) in each of those 4 seasons. In 1955 Bartlesville Phillips 66ers won the AAU National Basketball Championship against the Luckett-Nix Clippers of

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

, winning 66-64 and in 1956 they were the runners-up to the Buchan Bakers of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, losing 59–57. Before that he was a star center at playing collegiately for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

and in the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU). In 1943 and 1947 he was named a

Helms Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

All American. In 1947 he was the

Helms Foundation Player of the Year The Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual men's college basketball award given to the most outstanding men's player in the United States. It was awarded by the Helms Athletic Foundation, an organization founded in 19 ...

. He went on to play for Bartlesville Phillips 66ers of the NIBL, where he was an AAU All American and made the AAU All-Star Basketball Team, which was based on how one played in the National AAU Basketball Tournament in 1949 and 1950. In 1989 he was named to the Final Four All 40's Team. Also Kansas Hall of Fame 2010, and Oklahoma Sooner Hall of Fame 2014.

External links

Biography of Gerald Tucker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Gerald 1922 births 1979 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Olympic coaches for the United States Basketball coaches from Kansas Basketball players from Kansas Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball players Phillips 66ers players United States men's national basketball team coaches Centers (basketball)