Justin Tuck Tackling Bigger Issues Beyond the Gridiron

Justin Tuck was once a premier NFL defensive end. His playing days behind him, he’s tackling bigger issues that are much bigger than football

Justin Tuck’s mission on the field was to pressure the quarterback and force as many turnovers as possible. Beyond the gridiron, he works to encourage children to read, understand, succeed and hope through his initiative called Tuck’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy.

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A former New York Giants defensive end, the two-time Super Bowl champion has been a busy man since he retired after a successful 11-year NFL career, during which he was a key contributor to two championships with the Giants within five years.

I had the opportunity to sit down with him to discuss, among other things, his foundation’s mission as he partnered with former teammate Tiki Barber and Barber’s company Thuzio to hold Reading for R.U.S.H.: Justin Tuck’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy.

How and when did this initiative from the former defensive end get started?

“Tuck’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy in general, we started this in 2008 with the mission of hopefully
providing those communities that have truly blessed us, the tri-state area, New York obviously, Connecticut, New Jersey, back in my home state of Alabama, and now in California, in the Bay area by providing kids in those communities with the opportunity to grow their educational backgrounds,” Tuck said.

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His desire to reach out a promote literacy and education comes from a deeply rooted belief. That belief being that one’s education is vital to being able to achieve your goals.

“We feel as though education is something that’s invaluable,” he said. “We, me and my wife, know we wouldn’t be the people we are today if we didn’t hold our education at the highest, the utmost standard and the things that we’ve been able to do because of that, we want to give the kids the same opportunity. That’s in a nutshell why we started Tuck’s R.U.SH for Literacy.”

It’s evident that Tuck values education. While he could very well have gone on to coach or become an analyst like many other players, Tuck decided to study finance and pursue his MBA at the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. His studies are well-aligned with the mission of his foundation.

His wife and co-founder of Tuck’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy, Lauran Tuck, explained that the primary purpose of the foundation is to “encourage kids to read ,understand, succeed and hope through the dual barrels of literacy and financial literacy. But our primary focus is on literacy.”

Lauran and Justin Tuck share a very similar goal to that of the Rashad Jennings foundation. Partnering with Books for Kids, another non-profit organization, they aim to take existing pre-school spaces and build two marvelous libraries in Alabama, providing books to children and, hopefully, getting them excited about reading.

“Access to books is one of the number factors that effects literacy rates. So we provide books and reading materials over the summer to students,” Lauran Tuck said.

Justin Tuck was able to raise funds to build these libraries in his hometown of Alabama at a game-watch event as the New York Giants faced the Minnesota Vikings. So it was only right for him to give his thoughts on his former team. And frankly, he was quite high on the G-Men, calling this squad a Super Bowl caliber team.

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“For our Super Bowls, the defensive side of the ball, that was our strength. We were able to pressure the quarterback without having to blitz. We were able to stop the run, our D-line, for that matter, our front seven was very, very strong and it gave us a lot of leeway in what we were able to do and looks that we were able to show a teams,” Tuck said.

“I thought that they got back to that. I thought that this offseason, with the acquisition of ‘Snacks’ [Damon Harrison] and [Olivier] Vernon, to go along with [Jason Pierre-Paul] and [Johnathan] Hankins up front, they went and got talent in their secondary as well to buy more time with the pass rush. So that’s why I said that they’re Super Bowl caliber. They obviously have to play to that, but on paper, they have just as much talent as we ever did.”

And how does it feel to be retired as a Giant?

“It feels great. When I think about that stuff, I think of those that came before me and obviously the people I played with that gave me the opportunity to be the type of player I was. And to retire a Giant, I think that puts me in a category with all those greats. Even though I don’t think that  necessarily I am one of those guys, but it puts me in the conversation. And for a kid coming from where I came from, small-town Alabama, that’s something I hold a lot of pride in.”

Justin Tuck has come a long way for being a kid from small-town Alabama and it’s great to see him remember his roots. The work that he is doing through Tuck’s R.U.S.H. for Literacy is incredible and proves that he indeed has the heart of a Giant.