Tom “Tucker” Leone isn't one to toot his own horn, but that doesn't mean that others aren't eager to sing his praise.

Leone is a well-respected athlete who was first nominated to the Auburn High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.

This year, the reluctant Leone accepted his nomination.

Growing up on Barber Street, Leone earned his nickname like so many other kids, in the neighborhood.

“Everybody on the street had a nickname,” Leone said. “They called me little Tommy Tucker and it stuck and has been with me the rest of my life.”

A 1945 graduate of East High School, Tucker was a letterman in baseball, football and basketball.

Leone said that he was fortunate to be part of some great teams through the years, but displayed his characteristic modesty about his own performance.

“We had some pretty fair teams,” Leone said. “In football we were able to play the ball well. We were a fair team same with basketball and baseball. I guess you could say that I played commendable so to speak.”

Leone went on to Bowdoin College in Maine where he played basketball, baseball and football, the latter under the legendary Adam Walsh.

“He was captain of Notre Dame,” Leone said. “He was there with Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen and he went on to coach the L.A. Rams before going to Bowdoin.”

After his first year in college, Leone left to join the military, stationed in Korea before the war broke out.

After his tour was served, Leone returned to school, graduating in 1950.

Leone spent several years working in a local factory and began attending Syracuse School of Law in 1958, graduating in 1961 and beginning his practice in Auburn, which he still runs to this day.

While Leone is modest about his accomplishments as an athlete, he is proud of the recognition he has received from the hall of fame and the other great athletes that have been inducted.

“There are a lot of people I looked up to,” Leone said. “People like John Mazola and others - they were great athletes and I am proud and honored to be in the hall of fame with them.”

Leone will be joined in the induction by two other Auburn alums - Benjamin Joseph McIntosh, class of 1985 from Auburn High School and William Husak, a 1968 graduate of West High School.

McIntosh was an all-around athlete, playing lacrosse, football, basketball, track and cross country, being named to the Who's Who of American High School Athletes.

McIntosh went on to attend Cayuga Community College and then the University of Kentucky on a full scholarship for cross country and track, where he was a two-time all-American.

McIntosh continued his running career participating in numerous races and helping to establish and coach the middle school track and cross country teams at the local middle school in his current home of Auburn, Ala., where he works in the banking industry.

Husak was also a multi-sport athlete, serving as a pitcher and quarterback and playing on the basketball team, earning a spot in the Auburn Letterman's Club in 1967 and 1968.

Husak went on to SUNY Cortland and Texas A&M, where he earned his master's and Ph.D in physical education.

Husak is currently the athletics director at Loyola Marymont.

If you go

What: Auburn High School Hall of Fame induction ceremony

When: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3

Where: Springside Inn

Tickets: Available at YMCA, Lewis Restaurant, AHS

athletic office, Balloons Restaurant.

Contact Dick Williams at 252-3618 for more details.