James D. Tucker (December 11, 1932 – May 14, 2020) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player.

Biography

Tucker attended Paris Western High School in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Kentucky. A 6' 7"

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

from

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened as the Pittsbu ...

, Tucker played three seasons (1954–1957) in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) as a member of the

Syracuse Nationals The Philadelphia 76ers are an American basketball team currently playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 76ers are third in NBA history in wins and playoff appearances. 1946– ...

. He averaged 4.1

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

in his career and won a league championship in 1955. Tucker and teammate

Earl Lloyd Earl Francis Lloyd (April 3, 1928 – February 26, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He was the first African American player to play a game in the National Basketball Association (NBA). An All–American player at W ...

were also the first two

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

to play on an NBA championship team. In 2018, a short documentary titled "Let 'Em Know You're There" told the story of Jim's professional basketball career and eventual battle with Alzheimer's disease. The documentary won a 2019 Mid-Atlantic Emmy. Tucker died on May 14, 2020 from complications from

Alzheimer’s disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

at age 87.

References

External links

* 1932 births 2020 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Kentucky Duquesne Dukes men's basketball players People from Paris, Kentucky Power forwards (basketball) Syracuse Nationals draft picks Syracuse Nationals players {{1930s-US-basketball-bio-stub