THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: Friday, April 17, 2015

Daniel Buck is a state 3A track champion in the 4x200- and 4x400-meter relay teams, his name dots the Timberlake football school record book in rushing yards and touchdowns and he is the Associated Student Body president as a senior at Timberlake.

And like several teenagers, he is just beginning.

BUCK WAS born in Aurora, Colo., and with his parents Ron and Renae Buck and older sister, Rebecca and younger sister, Sarah, moved to Athol when he was 10, in order to be closer to his grandfather, Stan Perisho, who at the time had cancer and lived in Hayden. Sarah Buck, a sophomore, is also on the track and field team at Timberlake High.

"He got better, he's still alive," Buck said of his grandfather. "We moved from Barrow, Alaska, the northern part of the state. It was really cold. My dad was a fire chief for 20 years. His schedule allowed him time to go watch my games. My mom's a stay-at-home mom; I was home-schooled until I was in junior high."

The 6-foot, 200-pound Buck had a three-year career playing fullback for the Tigers. In their record books, Buck is second in career rushing touchdowns with 33, one ahead of Christian Heth (2009-11) and a large margin behind Nick Puckett (2005-07), who had 60.

Last season, Buck rushed for 18 touchdowns, which is tied for third with Tim Libby. He is also eighth on the school's career rushing list, with 2,517 yards. He was the Intermountain League offensive player of the year last season and he was on the all-league first team as a linebacker.

"Daniel is one of the best kids I've ever coached," Timberlake football coach Roy Albertson said. "He's one of those kids who doesn't come around very often, I wish I had many more of him every year. He's one of the hardest workers I've ever had. He puts in more time than everyone I've coached; he has a passion for football."

Buck signed to play on a full-ride, Western Undergraduate Exchange scholarship valued at more than $7,500 at Montana Western, an NAIA school in Dillon, Mont. Buck said the coaches there, including head coach DJ Robertson, want him to play at linebacker, where he excelled as a defensive player of the year in the IML as a junior in 2013. Buck also received offers to walk on at Idaho and Montana.

"I went down there, met with their coaches and it's a nice environment where I can fit in," Buck said of Montana Western. "I want to major in business and either become a news broadcaster or a fireman."

Ron Buck said he'd love to see his son follow him into the firefighting business, but whatever works for Daniel is fine with him.

"I'd like to see Daniel pursue whatever he believes God is leading him towards," Ron said. "If that includes the fire service, then I think that's great. Daniel has the qualities that many organizations seek and I'm confident he'd be an asset in this field or otherwise."

At last year's state 3A track and field meet in Middleton, Buck had his fingerprints all over the place, as he helped Timberlake's boys finish a close third with 81 points, behind winner Sugar-Salem (87 points) and runner-up Weiser (85).

With anchor Quinton Reece, Austin Malloy and anchor Ben Austin, Buck was one of the middle legs on a 4x200-meter relay team that won with a time of 1 minute, 32.23 seconds, close to breaking the school record of 1:31.90. He also ran the third leg of the 4x400 relay, along with Preston Rhodes, Josh Lampert and Austin, in winning again (3:29.46) and that time was less than two seconds off yet another school record (3:27.70). He was also fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 42 feet, 11 1/2 inches, with the school record being 43-5 1/4, and he was sixth in the long jump (20-4 1/2).

"He's a really hard-working, very dedicated leader," Timberlake coach Brian Kluss said. "He pulls kids with him, he pushes himself, he's never satisfied and always wants to get better. We noticed that from the beginning. He was huge (in the state relay wins), without him leading by example we would've never finished where we did. We led the 4x400 the entire way, but the 4x200 was a tight race. It's been a fun four years with him."

BUCK IS a driven individual in the classroom as well, as stated by his 3.9 grade-point average. He is also involved in the Business Professionals of America. As a sophomore his team won the state 3A championship in Boise and as a junior they placed second and qualified for nationals. Buck could not attend, because during those years the district track and field meet and the BPA nationals ran during the same week.

"I always strive for more so I can get things done," Buck said. "I put in time and focus and if you can compete against yourself, you're always going to surpass yourself at times. As an ASB president, you're in charge of the student council, assemblies, pretty much everything. You're three times as busy as you are in class. I put about 10 hours a week into it."

Buck has already made a boatload of memories both on the gridiron, the track and in school, all in a slightly less remote place than northern Alaska.

"It's always been a blast," Buck said. "We had that goal of beating southern Idaho schools (in the state football playoffs). We feed off of each other, the other guys."

And now this Buck can feed off of college ballcarriers, as well as business-related courses in college.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013 or via e-mail at bbourquin@cdapress.com