Rock Island truck driver earns national award for his work

A Rock Island man who lives his life on the road has been inducted into the National Private Truck Council (NPTC) Driver Hall of Fame.

Stuart Shuck is "living the dream" as a truck driver for John Deere in Davenport, through CPC Logistics, the last 26 years. He's gone more than 3 million miles without a preventable accident, and earned himself a spot among the elite.

Stuart Shuck was inducted into the National Private Truck Council (NPTC) Driver Hall of Fame in Orlando, Florida. Shuck is a Rock Island resident who drives for John Deere in Davenport.

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Those miles are just in the last 26 years, he said. His career reaches back much further than that.

"Altogether I've been doing it for 43 years," he said.

After he left the military in 1981, he returned to the Quad-Cities but couldn't find a job anywhere. His brother was already working as a truck driver and offered to help him out.

"He asked me if I wanted to go for a ride and one thing lead to another," Shuck said. "Forty-three years later I'm still doing it."

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The peace and solitude of the open road is one major component of the job he enjoys. The other is getting to choose his own schedule.

Every Monday afternoon Shuck picks up a load of supplies and heads down to Huntsville, Alabama. It's a rinse and repeat process throughout the week, until Saturday afternoon when he gets to rest.

The week totals up to just about 1,600 miles, he said, which contributed to him earning the induction into the hall of fame. Each year the NPTC Driver Hall of Fame inducts just four drivers from across the United States who have demonstrated a lifetime of excellence on the highway, in their company and in their community, according to a news release.

To qualify, drivers must have a minimum of 3 million miles, 20 years or 50,000 hours of driving; have no preventable accidents; and be regularly employed or leased full-time at an NPTC member company and actively driving at the time of induction.

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Throughout his career, Shuck's gone a little more than 5 million miles with no accidents. That caution and good work ethic runs in the family: His brother is at 4 million miles and his son is already at 1 million.

Shuck is humble about his nomination, saying the award just stems from being careful and doing the job he was trained to do.

"It is a big deal, but to me it's not really a big deal if you're doing your job right," he said. "That's all it comes down to."

Photos: Installation of 'Toybox: A century of John Deere Toys'

Austin DeCoster, of Edwards Creative, applies a vinyl wallpaper to the outside of the John Deere Pavilion's newest exhibit, 'Toybox: A century of John Deere Toys,' on Wednesday, May 15, in Moline. The exhibit will be opening on Friday.

Katelyn Metzger