People of Combs: Tre Buck
#14 Tre Buck pushing out of a hold.
High school students walk the halls of their school everyday, seeing faces of complete strangers. Students never take the time to learn about anyone outside their own circle of friends. The life of your science-lab partner could be an amazing journey no one has taken the time to ask about. Everyone has a story to tell and through a series of student features we will get to know the people of Combs.
Before any great athlete got their big break, they had to start small. However, for Sophomore Tre Buck, his big break wasn’t figurative, it was literal. After completing spring football practice and days before the end of his freshman year, Buck injured his ankle while playing basketball during P.E.
“I just was hoping it wasn’t broken,” Buck said. “I went to urgent care and found out it was broken and how long I was out for, I wanted to cry because I knew I was gonna miss most of summer practice.”
Summer football practice would be critical to the development of a young quarterback vying for the vacant position on the varsity team. All Buck could do was watch from the sidelines.
“I came back with like two or three days left before school started. I had to work my way all the way back up to try and get where I was last year,” Buck said.
In order for Buck to make his way back up to the top, he had to work hard. Buck learned how to keep going from his hero and dad, Wayne Buck. Wayne’s great work ethic motivated Buck to keep pushing forward.
“He’s been working a long time, my dad’s 50 and he still works six days a week at least 12 hours a day,” Buck said.
Buck feeds off the examples of hard work and drive that his father gives.
”I want to be like my dad when I grow up,” Buck said. ”Just be able to work that hard and that long and still not take any breaks.”
Buck and his dad both played several sports as children.
”He played a lot of sports when he was younger and for a lot of my life he was one of my coaches,” Buck said. “He always coached for my younger football teams and younger baseball teams.”
As a kid, Buck made memories with his dad that later sparked his love for sports.
“My favorite childhood memory of my dad was when I was six or seven and I first started playing baseball,” Buck said. “Baseball was my first love and it was the sport I wanted to play.”
Him and his dad would spend their days watching baseball and Buck would get a full explanation of what was happening in the game.
In order to actually play sports, Buck had to convince his dad daily.
“Every morning before he would leave for work at like four in the morning, I would get up with him and ask him if I could play baseball,” Buck said. “I asked him for like two consecutive weeks before he finally let me play. He made me work to play baseball.”
Hard work continues to dominate Buck’s athletic career. When Buck broke his ankle, he had to work to make it back to the top. He mirrored the example of work ethic his dad showed.
Despite being only a sophomore, Buck stood behind center as a starting quarterback for the first time in Combs history.
Buck has had his fair share of sports. Buck has played various sports for a total of 15 seasons overall. He played football for eight seasons, baseball for six seasons, and basketball for one season.
This is Bucks first year on Varsity, his first year playing with the “big boys”. But being on Varsity is not a big change for Buck since he spent all spring practicing with the Varsity team.
“I definitely got more attention around school then I did last year or even before I was on Varsity, but nothing really changed,” Buck said. “My friends are still the same friends.”
Before the games, it’s important for Buck to get in the zone.
“I kinda just listen to music while I’m stretching out and I just kind of get into my own zone,” Buck said.
Some people have superstitions like lucky socks or special shoelaces, but Buck personally just likes consistency.
“I try to keep it all the same,” Buck said. “Like I try to wear the same things for every game as I do for practice.”
Throughout the 2017 football season, Buck played in a lot of memorable games.
“I think the most fun game we had was Cortes, just cause that was a big win for us,” Buck said. “Everybody got to play all the seniors and all the people that don’t get to play a lot, so that was probably the most fun game.”
The aspiration of almost every student athlete is to go pro.
“I mean that’s the dream for every little kid, getting paid to play your favorite sport,” Buck said. “I realize it’s gonna take a lot of hard work and I’m willing to do that work but if it doesn’t work out I’m just gonna go to college and get a degree.”
Buck is used to hard work growing up in a hard working environment.
“You have to work hard,” Buck said. “It sounds really cliche, or like a broken record over and over again but working hard really gets you everywhere.”
The people that go down in Combs history, like Buck, have amazing and unique stories. Being the first starting sophomore quarterback is a good thing to Buck but it’s the journey that should inspire all.
“I’m not putting up a plaque on my wall or anything, it’s just something cool to think about,” Buck said. “But I can’t let it distract me.”
