Jim Moore (1986) - Hall of Fame - Murray State University Athletics

Jim Moore

Induction:
1986

Jim Moore – Assistant Football Coach 1937-1940; Head Football Coach 1941, 1946-1947; Boxing Coach 1939-1940, 1942 (Deceased)

Although best known for his contributions as an assistant coach at Murray State, Jim Moore realized his greatest success in a sport most people do not associate with intercollegiate athletics: boxing.

Moore arrived at MSU in 1937 as the line coach for the strong Roy Stewart gridiron squads of the 1930s. He also coached the Murray State track team to back-to-back third place finishes in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 19389 and 1939.

But it was while teaching a physical education course that he began shaping his vision of a boxing team at Murray State. That vision turned into one of the top success stories in MSU Athletics, and by far the least known.

Taking the potential he saw in his physical education classes, he formed the only boxing team in the KIAC. Without conference competition, Moore sent his pugilists against the region’s best squads.

During three seasons, Moore’s charges compiled a 9-2-1 record while defeating the likes of Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Purdue and regional powerhouse Xavier of Ohio. Competing in the 1939, 1940 and 1942 seasons, the Racers suffered their only loss to Southwest Louisiana who won the national title in 1942. The onset of World War II forced the dissolution of the team after the 1942 season.

Of course, Moore’s contributions to Murray State football cannot be forgotten. Selected as successor to the legendary Stewart, Moore’s gridders compiled a 4-3-2 record in 1941 before war duties called a majority of the players – and their coach – away.

Upon his return, Moore built a championship football team in an era when many schools utilized the skills of returning GIs to fashion a quick-fix success. Though Moore left Murray State after the 1947 season, many of his players went on to win the first-ever Ohio Valley Conference football title in 1948 and play in the school’s first bowl game, a 21-21 tie with Sul Ross State in the Tangerine Bowl.

Now retired, Moore resides in New Haven, Conn. (The Murray Ledger & Times, October 20, 1986, Homecoming ’86)