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HALL of FAME -- Joe Moore |
Former McDowell boss is...
The few, the proud, the Trojans!
If you played a season under legendary football coach Joe Moore, you were probably going to be able to endure most tough situations life threw at you, the Pittsburgh native a disciplinarian and taskmaster. Moore, who played high school football at Pittsburgh Schenley and his college ball at Penn State, demanded the best from his players -- and got it.
The chain-smoking, raspy voiced Moore coached at McDowell from 1963-71 and then moved on to Upper St. Clair of the WPIAL for four seasons. His 17-year high school coaching record was 119-32-4, including two straight championships his final two seasons at USC and a 66-19-1 mark at McDowell while snagging four league titles in his last five seasons with the Trojans.
His 1967 team went 9-0 and is considered one of the best editions in local grid history.
Both the McDowell and USC programs had very little success before this "rough" coach showed up.
One of his best wins with the Trojans came when McDowell traveled to Cleveland to play number one St. Ed's, the Trojans dressing 22 players and the Eagles with more than 100 in uniform. However, you could play just 11 at a time and Moore's 11 were much tougher than SE's, the Trojans stunning the Cleveland media with a 25-7 win.
Always colorful, and never lacking for a quote, one of Moore's best quotes came the week before a big game with rival Cathedral Prep when he told the Erie Times-News, "When I came to Erie, Prep was king of the hill but now they are just another team trying to form a huddle."
It should be pointed out that he was good friend with Rambler coach Tony Zambroski and "Z' just laughed off the remarks.
 THE COVER of the book that covered Joe Moore when he sued Notre Dame -- and won -- regarding an age discrimination suit.
Following his stint at USC, Moore established his as the premier line coach in the nation as he consistently developed All-American and future NFL performers at Pitt and Notre Dame. He also worked as a consultant in the NFL before returning to Erie as an assistant at Prep where he helped his former rival develop into a national power.
While at CP, he encouraged his prodigy Kirk Ferentz at Iowa to take a chance on one his Ramblers, Bobby Sanders who went on to earn Big 10 honors as well as capture an NFL Defensive Player of the Year award. Iowa was the only Division One school to offer Sanders.
Moore, who passed away in 2005, was the recipient of the American Football Coaches Outstanding Achievement Award at the AFCA national convention, held in Dallas, in 2006. Ferentz presented the award to Moore's son John at the affair.
"Joe" as his players called him, was considered the top coach at his position in the country, and that magnifies when former Dallas Cowboys GM Tex Schramm was quoted in Sports Illustrated when he said, "Joe Moore is the best offensive line coach in the country."
And there were no arguments here.
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Hall of Fame 