Bud

Every person at our school above the ninth grade knows Bud - he’s a fixture of our community. But what is his story? Most students wouldn't be surprised to find out that Bud has been working at Tucker High for a long time, but most of us don't know him very well as a person.

Bud has lived in Tucker his entire life, and been here through many of the highs and lows of our history, from the State Football Championships in 2008 and 2011, State Basketball Championship in 2007, 2014 Lady Tigers State Basketball Championship, to some of the unfortunate losses we sustained earlier in our school’s history.

Born on September 4, 1966, Bud was the youngest of five children, and lived in a house on Morgan Road, directly across Chamblee-Tucker Rd. from our high school. After middle school Bud went to Stone Mountain High. While there, Bud, like many of us, was an average student, with “good days and bad” as he tells me. He wasn’t an ambitious kid, and wasn’t active in athletics or clubs, and didn’t have any particular vision of what he wanted to be.

After graduating, Bud spent a few years bouncing between jobs, but never finding something that he could stick with. When Bud was about 22, Coach Roman, head baseball coach and a longtime family friend, asked if he could come help out at Tucker High School right across the road from his home. Bud accepted, and said he immediately fell in love with the job.

“Help out with what?” you might wonder. It might surprise you to know that Bud doesn’t hold any specific title. He just “gets stuck doing everything” as he tells me, and has many diverse roles. In 1989, the year Bud started working, he came into his position in the athletics department at a time when things were not incredible. The football team was nothing special, and the baseball team was 0-9. But with help from a newly hired young Bud, and continued intensive coaching and training, they turned it around and finished the regular season 18-9.

Since 1989 Bud has been there through all of our greatest triumphs. Bud was there in 2007 when the boys basketball team won the state championship with players like Manny Adkins and Tucker great MarShon Brooks, who has played with the Celtics, Warriors, Lakers, and Grizzlies. He watched and assisted during our State Football Champion season of 2008, with great players like QB Todd Beck, linebacker and running back Johnathan Davis, and future NFL player AJ Bouye, who has played with the Panthers, Broncos, Jaguars, and Texans.

During his time in the athletics department, Bud has become friends with many great athletes, and has countless stories to tell about our school's history. If you ever want to talk to him, just approach him while he is hanging out on Main Street or walking around our town most days of the week, and he loves to do it. With no plan on retiring in the future, Bud wants us to know that he is doing everything he can to come back to school, and says he still loves all of his students, teachers, and custodial staff.