Mark Tucker (American football)

Mark Tucker (born April 29, 1968 in Spokane, Washington) is an American football lineman.

High school career
Tucker played football at Banning High School in Wilmington, California. He started at offensive tackle his junior and senior year. He was teammates with Jamelle Holieway, Leroy Holt, and Courtney Hall (Rice University). Tucker and Hall were the best offensive tackle tandem in the Marine League that year, with Tucker being only a junior. Tucker was named to the All State Underclass team as a junior. Was named to the Daily Breeze All Star 1st team as a junior and senior. He was the South Bay Lineman of the year as a senior (1986). The Pilots had a talented I-veer running attack with Holieway (Oklahoma) at quarterback, Holt (USC) at fullback and Bret Young (Oregon) at the I-Back Brett getting 611 yards in a single game, a Banning High School record with each gaining 1000 yards rushing in 1984 as the they reached the finals at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum only to fall to rival Carson 33-20 finishing as the runner up with a 10-2 record.

His senior year (1985) the Pilots struggled early with a tough non-conference schedule that included powerhouse Long Beach Poly but put together a solid campaign to finish the regular season 6-3 and advanced to the LA City 4A playoffs. With victories over Kennedy and San Fernando, the Pilots assured themselves of a rematch with the Carson Colts in the 1985 title tilt. Banning uncharacteristically took to the air, catching Carson off guard they pulled off a dramatic and dominating performance winning 31-7 to recapture the LA City title, the 8th in Banning Highs history.

College career
Tucker played at the University of Southern California and graduated in 1991 with a Bachelors Degree in Political Science. A four year starter at offensive guard, he won the job three games into his freshman season. He started 48 games in his career. He was All Pac-10 as a sophomore and senior. was second team as a junior. Awarded 1st Team All American Honors as a senior. He was a finalist for the Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy given to the top lineman in college football. USC was 35-12-2 in his career, finishing 18th in the Associated Press in 1987, 7th in 1988, 8th in 1989 and 20th in 1990. Started the 1988, 1989 and 1990 Rose Bowl games. Finished his career in the Hancock Sun Bowl in 1990 as well losing to Michigan State 17-16. Played in the Hula Bowl All Star game in Hawaii.

NFL career
Tucker was drafted in the 7th round by the Atlanta Falcons in the 1991 NFL Draft. He spent most of the season on the Indianapolis Colts practice squad that year. He re-signed the next year and was allocated to the now defunct World League of American Football where he played for the Frankfurt Galaxy. In 1993 he signed with the Phoenix Cardinals and was there for two seasons. In early 1995 he was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 1995 NFL Expansion Draft. He then signed with the New Orleans Saints in 1996.

AFL career
He left the NFL in 1997 and became a member of the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League. He would go on to a long career with the Rattlers, one that would span a decade. The Rattlers enjoyed many successes and failures during his tenure, from an Arena Bowl victory over a Kurt Warner led Iowa Barnstormer team in ArenaBowl XI to the loses in consecutive ArenaBowls XVI, XVII, XVIII.

Post career
Tucker retired following the 2006 season and became the teams line coach. In 2011 he served as fullbacks and offensive line coach for the New Orleans Voodoo of the Arena Football League.He is currently a firefighter for the City of Phoenix.

During his career Tucker became a teacher and a varsity football coach at Chandler, Arizona's Hamilton High School. Under the guidance of John Wrenn and now head coach Steve Belles, Hamilton has garnered a total of eight 5A state Championship appearances with back to back championship campaigns in 2003/2004, a 2006 victory and 3 consecutive State Titles 2008, 2009 and 2010, the first time that has been accomplished at the 5A1 level in Arizona. At the end of the 2011 campaign the Huskies had put together a 53 game winning streak that came to an abrupt end in the 2011 State title tilt vs. Desert Vista 45-19.

The Huskies reclaimed their throne in 2012 soundly defeating Mountain Pointe 31-16 for their 7th 5A1 State Title crown in school history.