Justin Lee Tuck was born on March 29, 1983 in Coosa County, Alabama to Jimmy Lee and Elaine Tuck and is married to Lauran Williamson of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

A former standout defensive end for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Tuck currently plays in the National Football League for the reigning Super Bowl champion New York Giants. His cousin Adalius Thomas also plays professional football for the New England Patriots. On January 17, 2008 Tuck was rewarded with a contract extension with the Giants.

In his personal life, Justin has engaged in various philanthropic causes. Tuck and Giants teammate Michael Strahan teamed up with Nike to design their own exclusive pair of sneakers for ID studio in New York City. All proceeds of the sneakers were donated to Nike’s Let Me Play global campaign.

Football career

Central Coosa County High

Growing up, Tuck's favorite football teams were the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys but his favorite sport was basketball. Although he began playing football in the seventh grade, Justin only began to take it seriously in his freshman year of high school where he originally started out as quarterback before changing positions to tight end and defensive end. His accolades include earning Alabama Class 4A Player of the Year as a senior in 2000, as well as lettering in football as both linebacker and tight end. For his career at Central Coosa, Tuck recorded 492 tackles with 37 sacks, 26 forced fumbles, and 17 fumble recoveries. As a tight end, Tuck had 115 catches for 2,106 yards and 17 touchdowns. Subsequently, Tuck also won two state championships as a member of the high school basketball team.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

After redshirting his 2001 freshman year at the University of Notre Dame, Tuck played sparingly in his sophomore season. Playing only 180 minutes for the season, Tuck recorded his first collegiate sack against MSU. And despite his limited playing time and solo start (vs. Rutgers), Tuck was named a third-team freshman All-American by The Sporting News. Tuck increased his production in his final two season at Notre Dame. In 2003, he finished the season with 13.5 sacks, 19 tackles for a loss and three forced fumble before suffering a knee injury against Syracuse. Tuck frequently encountered double-team coverage in 2004. Despite a lingering knee problem from the previous season and not playing in Notre Dame's Insight.com Bowl loss to Oregon State, Tuck still finished the season will 47 tackles, six sacks and 14 stops for losses.

Nicknamed The Freak by his teammates for his raw athleticism, Tuck holds several defensive records at Notre Dame. Topping the previous record mark of 22.5 sacks by Kory Minor, Justin finished his Notre Dame career with 24.5 sacks. His career 43 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks in a single season are also school records.

New York Giants

2005–2006

During the 2005 NFL draft, Tuck was selected with the 10th pick of the third round by the New York Giants. His rookie season in the NFL found him behind Pro Bowl defensive ends Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora on the New York Giants depth chart, reducing his role to special teams and the first backup at each defensive end position. In total, Tuck played in 14 regular season games with one start and the NFC Wild Card Game. His first career sack came against the Giants NFC East rival, the Dallas Cowboys.

Tuck finished the 2005 season with 15 solo tackles, four assisted tackles, one sack, two passes defended, one forced fumble and 18 special teams tackles.

During his sophomore season in 2006, Tuck was limited to just six games due to injury suffered on October 23, 2006 in a New York Giants Monday night victory over the Dallas Cowboys. On November 17, Tuck underwent successful surgery to repair a Lisfranc injury. The procedure included inserting screws into Tuck’s foot. For the season, Tuck only recorded two solo tackles.

2007

Despite starting only two games in 2007 and playing behind two perennial Pro Bowl players in Umenyiora and Strahan, Tuck enjoyed his best season to date. Recording 65 tackles, 10 sacks, and forced two fumbles during the regular season, Tuck received a lucrative contract extension from the Giants. The five-year deal is worth an estimated $30 million, 16 million of which is guaranteed.

Super Bowl XLII

In front of a record setting American television audience, Tuck had a spectacular game in Super Bowl XLII by repeatedly pressuring New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and recording two sacks and a forced fumble. According to Tuck, he and Brady exchanged insults during especially physical plays. Due to the game's low score, opinions were heavily waged that Tuck better deserved the MVP award over Eli Manning.

2008

On March 31, 2008, Tuck reported to voluntary off-season conditioning programs administered by the Giants. Prior to the start of Giants mini-camp in May, Justin and the Giants were invited by President Bush to the White House to honor their victory in Super Bowl XLII.

Due to Michael Strahan's retirement, Tuck was promoted to starting defensive end. When asked about the pressure of replacing a legendary player, Tuck replied "Pressure? No, I'm smart enough to realize there's only one Strahan and there will always only be one Strahan. I'm not trying to replace Michael Strahan."

Personal life

Jimmy Lee Tuck, Justin's father, built the home that has housed his eight children and spouse by hand in 1973. During his childhood, Justin was nicknamed "He-Man" due to his large stature. He would run through his home yelling catch phrases from Masters of the Universe such as "By the power of Grayskull!" or "I have the power!". During his youth, Tuck frequently attended Elam II Missionary Baptist Church in his native Kellyton, resulting in Justin becoming the congregation's youngest Sunday School instructor.

After the Giants Super Bowl victory, Tuck achieved a new level of celebrity in his native Alabama. "It was interesting when I went home (to Alabama)," Tuck said. "You couldn't go anywhere without people asking for your autograph or telling you congratulations or how proud they were of you and things like that." The newfound celebrity also extended to New York where Tuck and Giants wide receiver Amani Toomer were honored by Congressman Charles Rangel at the ball field at Harlem River Park on February 20, 2008. The community celebration was in honor of the Giants Super Bowl XLII victory. Three days later, he and several Giants players were honored as "special guests" during a historic title unification bout in Madison Square Garden between heavyweight boxers Wladimir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov. The following month, Tuck was again honored for his Super Bowl heroics. He exchanged a game-worn football jersey for a game-used hockey stick with New York Rangers captain Jaromír Jágr. After only his second ice hockey game, Tuck quipped "I am hooked. It's football on ice."

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