Tucker recalls Trumann memories

(Editor's Note: This is the second part of a two part series on Bob Tucker.)

Bob Tucker is a man who's grown wiser through the years.

"I told my friends at the reunion how I remembered that we all couldn't wait to leave Trumann when we graduated," he said. "And now, I can't believe that we didn't see what a wonderful place it was to live."

"We grew up in a place like 'Happy Days,'" he said. "We had 'Happy Days.' We were living it."

Tucker said he never would have had the music career he had if not for growing up in Trumann.

"If I hadn't grown up in Trumann, I wouldn't have had the career I had," he said. "We were right down the road from Memphis, the birthplace of rock and roll. I was influenced by Memphis radio stations and Memphis musicians."

He did leave Trumann for the bright lights of Memphis, and found success and a full-time job.

Tucker, 67, went on to a successful music career, playing with and later leading the Bill Black Combo, and opening for the Beatles. This was a major accomplishment for a man who majored in journalism and spent 31 years teaching at Memphis State University.

He taught journalism courses and music history at MSU. Retiring 13 years ago, he has since opened a new business in Marion.

Tucker and his wife of five years, Janice, live in downtown Memphis. She is a licensed dietician.

He began a new phase of his life 12 years ago when he opened Bob Tucker Motors in Marion. He sells used highway buses," like Greyhounds," he says. The business is built on his experience traveling around the country in tour buses.

His business sits on two acres just off Interstate 55 in Marion. The dealership sells buses to churches, gospel groups and fledgling charter companies. Tucker has sold few buses to rock groups, but does a strong business with black and white gospel groups.

"In country music and gospel music, the arrival of the act is part of the act," he said. "Gospel groups that may not go 100 miles from home, they've got to own a bus.

He also sells his buses on the internet and on eBay.

The Bill Black Combo no longer performs on a regular basis, but they do get together. "Maybe once every year or two, when someone asks, we play," Tucker said. "All the guys are still around that I worked with for that last ten or fifteen years. But, no, we don't work anymore."

Most people in Trumann still call him Bobby, not Bob. He's still Bobby Tucker to most of us. He says the Class of 1958 is remarkable in all that his classmates have done and accomplished in 50 years. He says he's undeserving of the spotlight.

"If there's a better class that ever came out of Trumann and moved to other places and did great things, I'd like to see it," he said. "They are a great bunch of people. I'm very proud to be a member of that class. I'm very proud to have been raised in that town."

Before the interview ended, the question had to be asked - "Did Elvis ever play in Trumann?" Most residents have heard the rumors that he'd played at the Cotton Club in the 1950's.

"No, Elvis never did play in Trumann," Tucker said. "He did play in other places in Northeast Arkansas. But we had Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis play in Trumann. Conway Twitty played at one of our high school dances, but back then he was called Harold Jenkins and The Rockhousers."

Tucker recalls his life in Trumann with humor and nostalgia.

"It was a great place to grow up," he said. "Trumann has great people."

And Trumann is proud of her native son who did good.