Steve Tucker, an early champion of women's sports coverage, dies at 74

Jean Lachat/Sun-Times

Steve Tucker, who died on Friday in Evanston at age 74, spent 28 years at the Chicago Sun-Times, rising from a stringer to become the high school sports editor.

He left two impressive legacies. Tucker was an early champion for girl’s and women’s sports coverage. And his ability to hire and mentor young reporters was striking.

Tucker’s proteges went on to work in news and sports at outlets throughout the country, from the New York Daily News to The Athletic and all over the Chicago journalism landscape.

Tucker covered several sports at the Sun-Times, but his favorite and longtime beats were girls basketball, softball and women’s college basketball.

“Tucker’s coverage meant so much,” DePaul women’s basketball coach Doug Bruno said. “Still today, only eight to 10 percent of all sports coverage is of women. It was everything to have an advocate in the newsroom fighting to cover women. That’s what Steve did. He was a major factor in growing women’s sports coverage in Chicago. He was ahead of his time.”

“He had a national identity as a high school girls basketball and women’s college baskeball guy,” Sun-Times White Sox beat reporter Daryl Van Schouwen said. “He was one of a handful of experts in that field.”

Tucker spent his early years and most of his adult life in Chicago. His father instilled his love of sports, taking him to Marshall basketball games and the 1959 World Series at Comiskey Park.

Tucker graduated from New Trier in 1967 and the University of Iowa in 1972. He first worked as a floor manager at the Mercantile Exchange. In 1984 he began freelancing for the Sun-Times under longtime high school sports editor Taylor Bell. Tucker stayed at the paper until retiring in 2011.

“Unlike me, he was personable and had a lot of friends,” Bell said. “Everyone knew him and he knew everybody. He did for girls sports in Chicago what no one else had done in the Tribune or anywhere. He pushed himself in and said we should be covering this and I went along with it.”

The Sun-Times used to host postseason banquets for some high school sports.

“We had a boys basketball banquet and he pushed for the girls basketball banquet,” Bell said. “We wanted to have a baseball banquet and he pushed to have a softball banquet with it. Then he was able to persuade Cheryl Miller to be the first speaker we had. Later on he got Pat Summitt. He knew everybody.”

Legendary Marshall girls basketball coach Dorothy Gaters remembers calling the Sun-Times with her scores and first getting to know Tucker.

"Steve was a pioneer," Gaters said. "Steve gave the girls a voice. He gave them a presence. We owe a lot of gratitude to Tucker for what he did to elevate girls basketball in Chicago."

Tucker managed a rotating group of 30-40 “preppers” who wrote high school sports stories and gathered scores from multiple sports. Dozens of his hires went on to bigger things.

“He was not shy about giving people a chance,” Sun-Times copy editor Bob Mazzoni said. “High school sports was long an entry way into the profession. He was willing to give anybody who had an interest in it an opportunity. And if you earned his trust he would keep giving you assignments and more responsibilty. That kept people coming. Look at all the people who were under him who have gone on to larger things in journalism. It’s quite a legacy.”

Outside of journalism and sports, Tucker loved opera and bridge. He often played in national bridge tournaments.

"Tuck was such an interesting guy," Sun-Times Bears reporter Mark Potash said. "He went from a trader to a journalist and he just had such a big heart. That's what I will remember about him, what a loyal guy he was."

Bruno and Tucker became close friends over the years. Bruno was at the hospital with Tucker’s family on Thursday.

“We talked every day,” Bruno said. “It became more than a writer and coach relationship. There are tears now, but I’m remembering the great times. Every time I think of Tuck it brings a smile to my face.”