When a company has strong roots in a community, the commitment runs deep and often spreads to all areas of community life. So it’s no surprise that the F.C. Tucker Company, Indiana’s #1 name in real estate with a 107-year history, has intertwined its success with many beloved community institutions, even those outside its core business.
Such is the story of F.C. Tucker and the Indiana Pacers. For the Pacers, poised on the first trip to the NBA Finals in a half century, it’s a perfect time to look back at a few pivotal moments in the franchise’s storied history — and how an unlikely ally in the real estate industry played a part.
F.C. Tucker Company is Indiana’s largest independent real estate firm. Under the leadership of the original owner’s son, Fred C. “Bud” Tucker Jr., the company became instrumental in shaping downtown Indianapolis in the 1960s and 1970s. In the early 1970s, Tucker worked closely with then-mayor Richard Lugar to bring the Pacers to national dominance when they were one of four teams to transition from the ABA to the NBA during a merger between the two leagues.
The city faced an uphill battle to convince the league that Indianapolis was a large enough market to support an NBA franchise. Additionally, they needed to show they could sustain a home arena. The F.C. Tucker Company, along with the Indiana National Bank and other private investors came together with the city to make it happen. The investor group funded two-thirds of the $32 million cost of a new arena that would change Indy’s landscape, while the city of Indianapolis contributed the remaining third. This collaboration led to the construction of Market Square Arena, which opened in 1974.
As a result, the F.C. Tucker Company held a 30% ownership stake in the Pacers for a number of years until a later sale to a short-lived owner and the ultimate transition in 1983 to today’s current owner, Herb Simon.
And that wasn’t the only time the real estate company stepped in to help.
“Save the Pacers” Campaign
In 1977, facing financial difficulties stemming from the original NBA entrance fee, the Pacers were faced with possible relocation to a new city unless they could secure 8,000 season ticket holders. The F.C. Tucker Company worked with the late Bobby “Slick” Leonard and his wife Nancy (at the time an F.C. Tucker agent) to spearhead a “Save the Pacers” campaign, culminating in a live telethon that successfully garnered the necessary support to keep the team in Indianapolis. In one WTHR news clip produced in 2002 which features vintage footage of the telethon, Nancy Leonard tearfully proclaims, “Bob, we’re at 8,028.”
In that same 2002 WTHR news clip, Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame Bill Benner posits, “if the Pacers didn’t survive, do we get the Colts in 1984, would the amateur sports initiative really take hold as it did in the early 80s…?”
Thanks to public/private partnerships, bold moves and public acts of “paying your civic rent” we don’t have to wonder.
Now all we need to say is…Go Pacers!
