Moore

RIMERSBURG — April Fool's Day had been no laughing matter for Rimersburg resident Dave Moore.

A year ago on that date, he suffered a heart attack.

So when he received an unexpected phone call this past April 1, Moore had reason for skepticism.

“It was a member of the Pa. (football coaches association) informing me I was elected into their Hall of Fame,” Moore said. “I knew I was nominated a few years ago, but actually getting in? I figured there was no way.”

But it was no joke.

Moore, 67, a longtime football and girls basketball coach at Redbank Valley High School, will be one of four inductees into the Big 33 Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Hall of Fame Sunday in Harrisburg. The event is part of the Big 33 All-Star Game's weekend festivities.

Moore was 118-51-5 in 18 years as football coach at Redbank, with only two losing seasons. His 67.1 winning percentage is best in school history.

His 136-85 record over 10 years as girls basketball coach at Redbank makes him the winningest coach in that sport at the school as well.

“My philosophy of coaching never changed,” Moore said. “You connect a lot with the kids, you get a lot. If you connect nothing, you get nothing.”

A 1969 Williams Valley High School graduate, Moore played football, basketball and baseball there. He played baseball at Mansfield University and had the lowest earned run average on the pitching staff there.

“My career wasn't going to go any further as a player,” Moore said. “I wanted to get into coaching and was willing to go anywhere.”

He wound up as an assistant head football coach at Zuni High School, on an Indian reservation in New Mexico. The team was winless his first year, then turned in a 6-3 record for its first winning season ever.

“It was a great experience, but a sad event in how bad a shape and condition that village was in,” Moore recalled. “I was ready to move on. I put out 90 applications all over the place.”

He wound up at Redbank — which led him to the Hall of Fame.

Moore became the first coach at Redbank to have a career winning record. He introduced the run-and-shoot offense to the Keystone-Shortway Athletic Conference, along with the 4-4 defense and no huddle offense.

He's never gotten out of coaching. Moore coached track and field for 10 years, along with baseball, softball, elementary girls softball and now elementary girls basketball.

“I'm coaching my grand-daughter's fifth grade team now and we went 18-0,” Moore said. “I coached my son (Matt) in football for three years and we won 25 games in a row, including three conference titles.

“I've had pretty good luck coaching families.”

Matt Moore, a 230-pound guard in high school football, is coach elementary school sports himself these days.

“Kids are still kids in athletics. That's never changed,” Dave Moore said. “They play with heart. They care about their teammates. They respond to instruction.

“Parental guidance has changed. Parents are much more defensive and protective today. That's made coaching a little tougher. But seeing the heart in the kids ... That's why you do it.”