High school sports notebook: T-Ville's Buck returns to host camp

TAYLORSVILLE — Kansas City Royals catcher John Buck hasn't forgotten where he came from.

The former Taylorsville High standout ran the annual John Buck Baseball Camp at Gates Field on Saturday. Approximately 170 local youth baseball players — about 60 of whom were high school athletes — participated in the camp.

The Marshall Gates Foundation ran the camp and the cost was $10 for most players. There was no cost for Kearns High players.

It obviously wasn't a money-making venture for Buck, who lives in Salt Lake City during Major League Baseball's offseason, to lend his name and time to the camp.

"The coaches and people around this area have given so much to me," Buck said. "This is a way for me to give back to the kids that are literally in the exact same spot I was. They just need to be told sometimes they are in the right spot, doing the right things. Maybe that'll kindle a little fire and they can be doing the camp when I'm old, bringing my kid here."

Kearns sophomore baseball player Jostein Reyes said it meant a lot to have a big leaguer like Buck running the camp at his school.

"It helped us a lot," Reyes said. "It just gives us a chance to think that we can do it (make the big leagues like Buck)."

Buck said he got involved in the camp because of the presence of Marshall Gates Foundation director Chad Shepherd. Shepherd coached Paul Buck, John's younger brother who tragically died at the age of 17, and John never forgot the impact Shepherd had on his life. One of the Gates Foundation's summer teams, the Bucks, is named after Paul Buck.

The camp on Saturday featured a handful of hitting and defensive stations. Buck's message to his campers was to try and take one thing from each station and use it to improve their game.

"If they do that they're literally five or six steps closer to being a big-league player," Buck said. "It's the same exact thing where I started from."

Buck also runs occasional camps for Juan Diego and Taylorsville High when he has free time during the offseason.

FOOTBALL TURNAROUNDS: A few of the state's football programs are enjoying near-unprecedented success.

In 4A, Woods Cross has clinched its first winning season since 1993 and has locked up a playoff berth for the first time since 2005. It is the Wildcats' third playoff berth in the last 10 years.