Episode 57 - Clay Tucker - Former Lima Perry and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Standout - a podcast by Jon Cook

The city of Lima, Ohio has been home to the recipient of the state's Mr. Basketball Award winner a total of 5 times since the award's inception in 1988.  Any reasonable discussion about the greatest high school basketball player to come out of Lima should center on these young men.  However, if the discussion were to be simply about the Lima native with the greatest basketball career, I believe the conversation may well begin and end with Clay Tucker (ok, and John McCullough).  The quintessential late bloomer, Clay graduated after a tremendous career at Perry High School, with no scholarship offers.  After attending an event for unsigned graduates (primarily junior college prospects). Clay received an offer from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  When Tucker left UW-M in 2003, he had led the team to near upset of Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament, and was the school's all-time leading scorer with just shy of 1800 points.  He also played for two legendary coaches, two seasons each under Bo Ryan and Bruce Pearl.  What followed college was a professional playing career that spanned more than 15 years playing for 19 different organizations, mostly in Europe, but also including two NBA Summer League stops as well as time in the NBA Developmental League (now the G-League).  Tucker spent last season as a graduate assistant coach on Bruce Pearl's staff at Auburn University, and the 40-year-old Tucker is now pursuing a career in college coaching.  Anyone want to bet against the unsigned high school senior turned college career scoring leader, who became the undrafted college graduate with a 15-year professional career.  I am not making that bet.  Please enjoy my conversation with Clay Tucker.

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