Tim Tucker
Tim grew up in Carey, Ohio and was a 1974 graduate of Carey High School where he played basketball and baseball for the Blue Devils. As a high school student, he enjoyed attending Ohio High School state tournament games at St. John’s Arena. Tim went on to attend Bowling Green State University where he acquired a B.S. Ed degree in Physical Education and Math. He later attained his MEd from Marygrove College.
He began his high school teaching career in math at South Central High School. While there, he coached 3 years of junior high basketball, junior high football, and varsity girls track. After this, he decided to take a teaching job at Margaretta High School in Castalia, Ohio to be closer to a love for walleye fishing. With this move came the opportunity to coach girls’ basketball.
His first couple of years were difficult because his league included a great program under the leadership of Dick Wennes at Huron High School. Tim learned early that to be successful in the Sandusky Bay Conference as one of the smallest schools, he was going to need to build the program from the ground up. In 1987, the program made some great improvement. This lead to his teams winning 15 SBC Championships. The program, under his guidance, was able to win 13 Division III district championships, and 4 regional championships.
Over the years, Tim saw the coaching in the Sandusky Bay Conference become more competitive with the likes of John Cahill (Clyde), Ray Neil (Perkins), and Dick Heller at Oak Harbor. Tim loved the fact that these programs were improving because this helped Margaretta with a tough non league schedule. In addition, the stronger SBC only helped his team prepare for tournament time.
Throughout his coaching career, Tim was blessed to receive multiple accolades including several District 6 Coach of the Year awards, the OHSBCA girls division III Coach of the Year award, the Bob Arnzen Longevity award, and the opportunity to coach the North-South All-Star game. In 2018, Tim and his 1992-1993 state team were inducted into the Margaretta Hall of Fame, and in 2020, Coach Tucker was inducted into the Margaretta Hall of Fame. With 576 wins, he remains in the top 15 winningest coaches in the state of Ohio.
Tim has been married to Angie for 36 years and together, along with some great assistant coaches, they have diligently worked to help make this a program that is still successful with players playing today that were in his biddy program. Tim and Angie have three wonderful children in Tiffany, Tatum, and Tyler as well as two son-in-laws, Brian Lombard and Lucas Poggiali and daughter-n-law Macy. They also have two wonderful grand daughters, Mila Lombard and Harper Poggiali.
Coach Tucker credits many dedicated, hardworking young ladies that believed in his vision and put in the time to make Margaretta Lady Bear basketball a respected program around the state. Despite being quite demanding in practice, he truly loved his players. He also would like to credit some long time assistant coaches: Gary Borchardt, Gary Wahl, Tom Kennedy, Cyndi Heddon, Dean Koch, Drew Grahl, and Gene VanOrsdall. Tim’s wife also contributed with coaching all the lower level ball handling programs as well as many different coaching positions as needed to keep the program moving forward. He also credits the Polar Bear fans, and they were known as a faithful group that supported their beloved Lady Bears throughout the season and beyond. Coach Tucker really loved his years working for this school system and cherishes all of the great memories of Lady Bear basketball.