Travis Tyrone Tucker (born September 19, 1963) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

who played three seasons for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL).

College career

After graduating from South Shore High School in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, Tucker was recruited by Head Coach

Kevin Gilbride Kevin Bernard Gilbride (born August 27, 1951) is a former American football coach and player. He coached in the NFL for twenty years, spending seven of them as the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, with whom he earned two Super Bo ...

and played collegiate football for four years at

Southern Connecticut State University Southern Connecticut State University (Southern Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State, SCSU, or simply "Southern") is a public research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Part of the Connecticut State University System, it ...

, an NCAA Division II school. He was a 4-year starter and graduated as the school's all-time leading receiver in total catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. He was inducted in the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.

Professional career

Tucker was selected by the

in the 11th round of the

1985 NFL draft The 1985 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. The NFL draft, draft was held April 30 and May 1, 1985 NFL season, 1985, at the Omni Park Central Hotel in New York City, New ...

. He served as a backup to Hall of Fame tight end

Ozzie Newsome Ozzie Newsome Jr. (born March 16, 1956) is an American professional football executive and former player who is the executive vice president of player personnel of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). Newsome was a tight ...

and was voted Special Teams Player of the Year in 1986 and Special Teams captain in 1987. His career ended in 1988 following a knee injury.

References

1963 births Living people Players of American football from Brooklyn American football tight ends Southern Connecticut Owls football players Cleveland Browns players 20th-century American sportsmen {{tightend-1960s-stub