Fire took a lot from North Myrtle Beach’s Buck, but he’s living for much more

Raekwon Buck touched his left wrist, the spot where one of his dad’s nine watches would occasionally sit.

There were also clothes – including a shirt he wore the week his father was buried – a chess set, other “little things,” Buck called the physical reminders of his late father. Then he moved on to his own possessions. Pretty much everything.

Gone.

“I went to go look for a shirt, and I didn’t have the shirt anymore,” he said. “I was like ‘Wow, my house is gone.’”

The North Myrtle Beach senior football player and his family lost their house at the Creekside Mobile Home Park on Sept. 21, when a fire set inside his room made the property inhabitable. A person of interest was identified; an investigation has been launched and is ongoing, according to North Myrtle Beach City Public Information Officer Patrick Dowling.

But for Buck, that was secondary. He didn’t ask too many questions or even really want to know specifics. What concerned him was that he, his mother, Tonya, two sisters, a brother and two cousins were left without their own roof over their heads.

“I thought he would have broke,” Tonya said of her oldest son.

In her heart, she already knew better.

WORKING THROUGH TRAGEDY

At North Myrtle Beach, Raekwon Buck is a bit of role player. The 5-foot-8, 160 pounder jumps from offense to defense, pretty much wherever coach Blair Hardin feels like putting him from series to series during practices. In games so far this year, he’s caught a pass and made tackles.

When his helmet is on, the best way to identify him is by his well-manicured dreadlocks hanging out the back. Without his face covered, there’s a huge smile that doesn’t quite make sense given everything he’s been through.

In 2011, when he was an eighth grader in Hemingway, Buck’s father, Marlon Coward, was involved in a dispute stemming from a card game in Little River. He and Brandon Alston, the other shooter, died at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center.

It was the day after Christmas.

The September fire brought many of those feelings back.

“For this to happen to him, he has shown me that he’s a tough guy,” Tonya Buck said. “I appreciate that because he’s holding up even though he’s lost everything, all of his daddy’s memories.”

There was no pity party.

Instead, just hours after the North Myrtle Beach fire department contained and extinguished the fire, there was Buck, walking into the weight room. Hardin said he didn’t immediately believe the player when told the news.

Players have rallied around him, knowing that if he can be there giving his all, they need to do their part, too.

“He’s been here every day,” Hardin said. “It shows how committed he is to our program. It shows that he’s a great teammate.

“He’s a humble young man. He’s a worker. He provides for his family. He just does his job — his job is to come to school and go to football. It’s a lot for a young man.”

Turns out, staying the course was therapeutic, too.

“It’s what I did [before],” Buck said. “I didn’t want to make it any different because then I’d have time to notice I don’t have a house anymore. It’s just keep doing something.”

THE BACKING OF A COMMUNITY

The Buck family discovered it was probably bigger than it previously thought.

“Mama Tonya,” as some students call her, was still scrambling when she received a recent phone call asking her to come to the school. Steered by North Myrtle Beach High’s Teen Angel program, there were bins of clothes and shoes, donations from parents, friends of parents, folks she’d never met.

There was also a GoFundMe drive that as of Wednesday afternoon had raised $1,517 within 10 days of the fire. And the volleyball team, using social media and word-of-mouth, helped raise approximately $1,000 during one of their matches in the week of the tragedy.

Some restaurants are letting the Buck children eat free for as long as necessary.

“He’s getting support from the entire community,” said Chiefs junior Ronnie Bass, one of Buck’s best friends. “It’s crazy to see how many bins of clothes he has. Everybody’s giving. Everybody cares. You may not know it, but everybody cares about you around here. I believe everybody in Little River is close to each other.”

The Buck family was temporarily relocated to a hotel. Raekwon, in an effort to alleviate some of his mom’s responsibilities, accepted an invitation to move in with Bass and his family three days after the first and another friend before that.

He didn't stay away from his mother, siblings or cousins too long.

“He’s holding up strong for me,” said Tonya who returned to one job on Tuesday and resumes the other on Friday. “He comes by and checks on us. He’s doing what a big brother should.”

Over that first weekend, the family returned to the house to see what could be salvaged. In Raekwon’s room, where the fire started, there was one of his father’s watches.

With some TLC from a repairman, it is expected to be restored. It was one of the only times she saw her son unable to fight back the emotion of the fire or what it took from the family.

Later, thinking about the aftermath, he had another cry. He knew when the next home was ready, there would be a football team, a school and a community ready to continue to assist with the heavy lifting.

“It really moved me to see how everybody helped me,” Buck said. “I wasn’t expecting it from everybody. I cried a little bit to myself. I was thankful.”

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 3:00 AM with the headline "Fire took a lot from North Myrtle Beach’s Buck, but he’s living for much more."