Playing as a quarterback for the Coulee City High School football team, Tucker earned himself a scholarship to attend Gonzaga University shortly after graduating.

[1] Tucker abandoned the Gonzaga scholarship and enlisted in the United States Army in 1943, during the middle of World War II, and was sent to Fort Custer to become a member of the Military Police Corps.

He continued to be involved in community politics, later joining the Mountlake Terrace chamber of commerce and the Lynnwood Koffee Klatch, a group of southern Snohomish County business leaders.

[1] Deciding to run as a Democrat, despite having conservative leanings,[1] Tucker faced Republican state senator Gary A. Nelson and two independent candidates.

[1] Tucker was re-elected to a second term in 1983, beating out Everett businessman Court Sheehan in the Democratic primary and Republican Snohomish city councilman Larry E.

[2][14] By the time he retired in 1991, Tucker had successfully established senior-friendly policies to aid the elderly and senior centers, and also moved forward with county purchasing of wetlands in the Snohomish River delta for preservation.

During the 1990 GTE Northwest Classic, part of the 1990 Senior PGA Tour, Tucker was one of two amateur golfers to make a hole-in-one, earning lifetime dinners at Duke's Chowder House in Seattle.