"Friday Nights in K-Town Player Profiles"
"If you don't make a total commitment to whatever you're doing, then you start looking to bail out the first time the boat starts leaking. It's tough enough getting that boat to shore with everybody rowing, let alone when a guy stands up and starts putting his jacket on" -Lou Holtz
Preface
The birth date of football in the United States is generally regarded by football historians as November 6, 1869, when teams from Rutgers and Princeton Universities met for the first intercollegiate football game. In those early games, there were 20 players to a team and football still more closely resembled rugby than modern football. The game of football has a history of constant rule changes. Rule changes have been implemented to bolster the excitement of the game of football and to increase the game's safety.
The game of football by nature is a hard, tough game played by hard, tough men. The men who play this game professionally for the most part began to learn about that toughness in high school on football fields throughout America in small towns you probably never heard of. Brandon Mississippi, Fork Bend Utah, Wompem Pennsylvania, Polaski Tennessee, and for some Kannapolis North Carolina. These young men learned the game from qualified coaches and support staff who in their younger days played the same game. Though the years have passed away like so many fading memories the game for the most part has stayed the same. Two teams, four quarters with one winner. The object is to move the ball down a field which the playing surface is 100 yards long and 160 feet wide and score while defensively trying to prevent the other team from doing the same thing. The progression for kids who hope to play the game possibly for a living one day starts in the Pop Warner Leagues then to Middle School, High School then College for those talented enough and academically eligible. If the player is extremely fortunate he will be selected in the draft after college to play in the National Football League.
Ask anyone who has a love and passion for anything they excel at and they will tell you once you start getting paid to do something you love the playing field changes drastically. High School football is widely considered by most Americans to be the last bastion of pure athletic football competition left today. These player profiles you are about to read are accounts of the game by many fine Wonder athletes who played the game during various eras in Wonder football history. These accounts cover every decade over the last forty years in the town of Kannapolis by players who excelled at their game a drained it for all they could get. These stories will give you a look back in time to a specific era and to feel what the climate was like for these young men at the time they played. You will hear about their most memorable victories, and most excruciating defeats. You will hear what the differences were during each specific decade and how the game has changed under new times and different philosophies. Player Profiles takes a look at the high school careers of these fine outstanding athletes from their prospective and takes you into a private world only they knew and from which they were the masters. These athletes philosophy of football was simple, "If you want it, here it is, Come and Get it."
Preface
The birth date of football in the United States is generally regarded by football historians as November 6, 1869, when teams from Rutgers and Princeton Universities met for the first intercollegiate football game. In those early games, there were 20 players to a team and football still more closely resembled rugby than modern football. The game of football has a history of constant rule changes. Rule changes have been implemented to bolster the excitement of the game of football and to increase the game's safety.
The game of football by nature is a hard, tough game played by hard, tough men. The men who play this game professionally for the most part began to learn about that toughness in high school on football fields throughout America in small towns you probably never heard of. Brandon Mississippi, Fork Bend Utah, Wompem Pennsylvania, Polaski Tennessee, and for some Kannapolis North Carolina. These young men learned the game from qualified coaches and support staff who in their younger days played the same game. Though the years have passed away like so many fading memories the game for the most part has stayed the same. Two teams, four quarters with one winner. The object is to move the ball down a field which the playing surface is 100 yards long and 160 feet wide and score while defensively trying to prevent the other team from doing the same thing. The progression for kids who hope to play the game possibly for a living one day starts in the Pop Warner Leagues then to Middle School, High School then College for those talented enough and academically eligible. If the player is extremely fortunate he will be selected in the draft after college to play in the National Football League.
Ask anyone who has a love and passion for anything they excel at and they will tell you once you start getting paid to do something you love the playing field changes drastically. High School football is widely considered by most Americans to be the last bastion of pure athletic football competition left today. These player profiles you are about to read are accounts of the game by many fine Wonder athletes who played the game during various eras in Wonder football history. These accounts cover every decade over the last forty years in the town of Kannapolis by players who excelled at their game a drained it for all they could get. These stories will give you a look back in time to a specific era and to feel what the climate was like for these young men at the time they played. You will hear about their most memorable victories, and most excruciating defeats. You will hear what the differences were during each specific decade and how the game has changed under new times and different philosophies. Player Profiles takes a look at the high school careers of these fine outstanding athletes from their prospective and takes you into a private world only they knew and from which they were the masters. These athletes philosophy of football was simple, "If you want it, here it is, Come and Get it."
"The Harry Greene Profile"
1960-1962
"When Men Were Men"
Growing up as a youth in post war Kannapolis in the 1950’s Harry Greene Jr was an energetic kid who dreamed of playing football at Kannapolis like his hero of the day Leroy Scercy. Greene fancied himself like Scercy who was a hard nosed, lower your head, North/South runner with bruising strength and speed. Greene openly admits he loved Scercy’s style of football which was a tough, physical brand of football that left your opponent bruised and battered at the end of the game. Greene relished the idea of inflicting as much pain on his opponent as he could legally get away with in a day when facemasks were optional and when football philosophies were clear and simple. If you had pain, you were still going to play with it.
Greene learned his skills in the sandlots and back yards of cottonville in a day when kids said yes and no sir and yes mame and no mame without hesitation from fear of getting their backsides lit up by their fathers whom they feared yet respected. A stark contrast from much of today’s standards, but then look at the era we are talking about. Kids who grew up during this time didn’t have much and what ever they did have they worked for and earned. Greene took out his frustrations in life on any number of kids in back yard football games throughout his early childhood until he reached the age of entering high school in 1960 at A.L. Brown High School. A.L. Brown was eight years old when Greene entered it’s doors in 1960 and was about to become a part of something special in 1960 with the Little Wonders under then head coach Ed Edmiston. In 1959 the Little Wonders finished their season just breaking even at 5-5, but big things were on the horizon as Greene entered school his sophomore year. A veteran group of Little Wonders who felt they were much better than their record indicated in 1959 were about to make history in Kannapolis, and Harry Greene was about to become a major contributor to it.
The 1960 Wonders would take their group of returning starters into a campaign that would see them post a record of 10-0-2 becoming the co-champions of the old Western North Carolina High School Athletic Association after deadlocking Hickory in the state final 0-0. Entering his junior year Greene’s hopes were bright as he was looking forward to what he was sure was going to be a record breaking year for him until misfortune derailed his dreams. During practice just before the season opener with Salisbury Boyden Greene suffered a significant knee injury that would sideline him indefinitely. Things looked hopeful as Greene would get the nod to enter action the following week against the Eagles from East Mecklenburg, however on a rainy night at East Meck the final dagger in Greene’s junior season would be delivered. After fielding a bad snap from center while punting Greene took another blow to his knee attempting to make something out of nothing. Greene’s season was finished and he was then facing the daunting task of knee surgery the following week which would sideline him for the remainder of the 1961 season. Disheartened by the news Greene was reduced to being nothing more than a cheerleader for the remainder of the 1961 season left only to contemplate what may have been. The loss of Greene was devastating to the Little Wonders who were looking to repeat their success in 1960.
Greene learned his skills in the sandlots and back yards of cottonville in a day when kids said yes and no sir and yes mame and no mame without hesitation from fear of getting their backsides lit up by their fathers whom they feared yet respected. A stark contrast from much of today’s standards, but then look at the era we are talking about. Kids who grew up during this time didn’t have much and what ever they did have they worked for and earned. Greene took out his frustrations in life on any number of kids in back yard football games throughout his early childhood until he reached the age of entering high school in 1960 at A.L. Brown High School. A.L. Brown was eight years old when Greene entered it’s doors in 1960 and was about to become a part of something special in 1960 with the Little Wonders under then head coach Ed Edmiston. In 1959 the Little Wonders finished their season just breaking even at 5-5, but big things were on the horizon as Greene entered school his sophomore year. A veteran group of Little Wonders who felt they were much better than their record indicated in 1959 were about to make history in Kannapolis, and Harry Greene was about to become a major contributor to it.
The 1960 Wonders would take their group of returning starters into a campaign that would see them post a record of 10-0-2 becoming the co-champions of the old Western North Carolina High School Athletic Association after deadlocking Hickory in the state final 0-0. Entering his junior year Greene’s hopes were bright as he was looking forward to what he was sure was going to be a record breaking year for him until misfortune derailed his dreams. During practice just before the season opener with Salisbury Boyden Greene suffered a significant knee injury that would sideline him indefinitely. Things looked hopeful as Greene would get the nod to enter action the following week against the Eagles from East Mecklenburg, however on a rainy night at East Meck the final dagger in Greene’s junior season would be delivered. After fielding a bad snap from center while punting Greene took another blow to his knee attempting to make something out of nothing. Greene’s season was finished and he was then facing the daunting task of knee surgery the following week which would sideline him for the remainder of the 1961 season. Disheartened by the news Greene was reduced to being nothing more than a cheerleader for the remainder of the 1961 season left only to contemplate what may have been. The loss of Greene was devastating to the Little Wonders who were looking to repeat their success in 1960.
The success of 1960 was not to be as the Little Wonders would finish the season with a dismal 1-5-3 mark for the year. For Greene all sights were set on his up and coming senior year of 1962. The Little Wonders would enter the 1962 campaign with high expectations on improving from their last outing in 1961, but though there were high hopes there was little expectation. The Little Wonders had lost a good many of it’s starters and were thin in many areas of attack. The Little Wonders would finish the 1962 season posting another dismal 3-5-2 mark, but through it all the 182 pound Greene would rack up over 1100 yards rushing on 184 carries scoring ten touchdowns. Greene passed for 125 yards on 34 attempts and kicked forty five times averaging 34.7 yards per punt. Greene’s most noteworthy performance of the 1962 season came in a week five game against the Thomasville Bulldogs where Greene ripped off touchdown runs of 88, 64, and 11 yards finishing the game with 246 yards rushing on twenty five carries. Greene finished the 1962 season with 1246 total yards and a career total of 1521 yards over three seasons. The highlight of Greene’s senior year was being named to the WBTV North Carolina All State football team for 1962 and second team All State birth by the Charlotte Observer.
When I decided to begin interviewing athletes for this series I first wanted to take a step back in time and find someone who embodied the spirit of Wonder football during a time that many of us today are oblivious to. The name of Harry Greene kept popping up the more I talked to people from this era. So I decided to track Greene down and ask him if he would be willing to participate in this showcase of past Wonder stars.
On a faithful day in March of 2012 I contacted Mr Greene by phone to ask him if he would be willing to tell his story for Wonder nation. I was surprised at his response. Greene who is known by most to be a very private man who rarely likes to be in the public eye told me during our phone conversation how much he enjoyed Friday Nights in K-Town and how much he appreciated my efforts to tell the story of Wonder football the way he thought it should be told. “It’s important for these young kids today to know from where it is all this started. The story of Kannapolis football does not begin and end with the state championship teams of the modern age, it begins on a practice field beside the Bullock Gymnasium during a time when there was just as much gravel on the field as there was grass, and when you took pride in the concept of team” Something in Greene’s estimation has been lost over the years. So with that said, I now invite you to go back in time to an era when times were hard and football for most of these kids was an outlet to get out pent up frustrations of an uncertain future that faced most of these kids living in Kannapolis, and from which the wins and losses built more than just memories. It built character.
When I decided to begin interviewing athletes for this series I first wanted to take a step back in time and find someone who embodied the spirit of Wonder football during a time that many of us today are oblivious to. The name of Harry Greene kept popping up the more I talked to people from this era. So I decided to track Greene down and ask him if he would be willing to participate in this showcase of past Wonder stars.
On a faithful day in March of 2012 I contacted Mr Greene by phone to ask him if he would be willing to tell his story for Wonder nation. I was surprised at his response. Greene who is known by most to be a very private man who rarely likes to be in the public eye told me during our phone conversation how much he enjoyed Friday Nights in K-Town and how much he appreciated my efforts to tell the story of Wonder football the way he thought it should be told. “It’s important for these young kids today to know from where it is all this started. The story of Kannapolis football does not begin and end with the state championship teams of the modern age, it begins on a practice field beside the Bullock Gymnasium during a time when there was just as much gravel on the field as there was grass, and when you took pride in the concept of team” Something in Greene’s estimation has been lost over the years. So with that said, I now invite you to go back in time to an era when times were hard and football for most of these kids was an outlet to get out pent up frustrations of an uncertain future that faced most of these kids living in Kannapolis, and from which the wins and losses built more than just memories. It built character.
(FIK) When did you realize playing football was something you wanted to do in school?
(HG) I was born in 1944 and of course other than backyard sandlot football that was all that I knew as a kid growing up. As I began to mature later on in the fifties I began to see what organized football was all about. The biggest impact on me when I started watching the Little Wonders play was a man named Leroy Scercy. Scercy in my estimation was one of the best if not the best football players that ever played in Kannapolis. Later in life I became close friends with Leroy who just recently passed away last year. Leroy was a great guy and a great person to be around and knew so much about the game. That is when my memories of Kannapolis football began to take shape in those early years. Back then all the kids in Kannapolis aspired to be Kannapolis, Cannon, and ultimately A.L. Brown football players.
(FIK) Were there any particular rituals or training that you were involved in prior to and during football season in those early years?
(HG) (Laughing) Yes there were, It was called knocking your heads together with guys in your back yard during back yard football games. (Laughing) It probably wasn’t until I was a sophomore or junior before the thought of lifting a weight ever entered my mind and that was partially due to the influence of a man named Ray Waller who was an instructor at the YMCA during that time. They had a little room that wasn’t nearly as big as my living room that had a few dumb bells, a bench press, and a couple of bar bells and that was basically it. There was no such thing as what you would called today as an organized strength and conditioning class offered anywhere. You just showed up and took the personal initiative on your own to participate in things like that. Come August the 15th when traditionally we started two a day practices that led up till right around time for school to start. A typical practice would begin with a few calisthenics and then you started killing each other. Once school started you practiced only one time a day and you were in school for almost two weeks before the season ever started.
(FIK) What are some of the major differences you see in the game today in comparison to when you played the game?
(HG) Football in that period was no where near as sophisticated as what we have today. As a matter of fact the animation and the sophistication of football today is almost laughable in terms of the way it was when I played. Back then they took the eleven best players and you hit the field running. When the game started the best eleven were on the field and when the game ended you were still on the field. Many players played both ways, and there were some exceptions because there were some who just couldn't go both ways in a game, but in my case from the time the game started until that final whistle I never came off the field. I played offense, defense, punted, I ran back kickoffs and punt returns. Lets just say I got my money’s worth. (Laughing)
(FIK) What was the atmosphere like playing in a mill town like Kannapolis and what effect did it have on how you performed?
(HG) I think as far as that aspect of things I would have to say that the work ethic was much stronger and more intense. Growing up back then you didn’t have a whole lot and what you did have or for a better word what you attained in those days you earned and you worked for it. That built character and it fed into the football we played. We all knew if we wanted to be competitive we would have to work hard at it. It wasn’t going to be handed over to us without paying a price. Kids today and I’m not categorizing all of them, but many of them don’t understand what it was like to have to get up earlier and stay up later to have anything because it’s now just handed over to them. That doesn’t teach a young person to be self sufficient and instill in them a good work ethic. You grow thinking you’re entitled and that does nothing to build a young persons character and self esteem.
I treated football just like a job I was going to go work on the weekend and I went at it knowing to get any good return I was going to have to put in the effort. I’m not sure that growing up in a mill town had anything to do with that aspect of it, but rather it was more the times we were growing up in more than anything. You take a good many of these kids today and throw them back in time to that way of doing things and I’m not so sure they would make it. We didn’t have video games and computers, and Ipods back then. There are so many things today that kids focus their attention to other than hard work and
(FIK) Your sophomore year in 1960 did you and other members of the team feel they had something special going into the year that was going to be a defining moment for Wonder football?
(HG) I did an interview with Mike London several years ago and we talked about that 1960 team and I told him “You know, we were a bunch of no names who really hadn’t accomplished much up to that point. There were really no standouts or super stars among us. We were just a bunch of classmates and friends that played football” I contribute a good portion of what became to coach Edmiston. Coach Edmiston in his own way was able to bring us together and mold us as a unit. We were a team first and foremost. We loved each other, and looked after each other and it was a team atmosphere. There were no individuals out to make a name for themselves.
Coach Edmiston’s job was to love us as players and our job was to love each other, and either directly or indirectly that was the result of that year. We became a unit sold on going out every Friday night and giving our all for the man beside us. That was a special group and we were pretty darn good. If you look real close at that season you will see that many of the scores from that year were close and any one of those teams could have beaten anybody on any given night. The conference was so well balanced. Albemarle, Mooresville, Asheboro, China Grove, Statesville were all talented tough teams. You know we tied Asheboro that year which I believe was our only blemish on our record, but had I not run a kickoff or a punt return back for a touchdown that year we would have lost that game. Same with Statesville. At the half we were behind and come the second half kickoff I ran the ball back for a touchdown that tied the game. We ultimately won that game, but in retrospect we could have very easily lost three games that year or maybe four. Anybody in our conference could have beaten anybody that year it just so happened that we had it together.
Another thing I'll add, and I give coach Edmiston credit for this is that we were a single wing team back then, which is about the nearest thing to antiquity oriented today as you could imagine for an offense. Coach Edmiston came up with so many different renditions of that offense that it became hard to defend against. Coach Edmiston was very imaginative and creative. He came up with what he called a spread offense which is nothing but the shotgun offense in the pros and it became so successful in that 1960 season, but what is so funny is that he didn’t implement that offense until the playoffs started. I remember we ended up barely beating Concord 14-8 and then of course the playoffs started. We played Albemarle and Mooresville and I remember when we came out those guys were standing there with their mouths wide open staring at us like they had never seen anything like that in their lives and they were clueless as how to defend that.
(HG) I was born in 1944 and of course other than backyard sandlot football that was all that I knew as a kid growing up. As I began to mature later on in the fifties I began to see what organized football was all about. The biggest impact on me when I started watching the Little Wonders play was a man named Leroy Scercy. Scercy in my estimation was one of the best if not the best football players that ever played in Kannapolis. Later in life I became close friends with Leroy who just recently passed away last year. Leroy was a great guy and a great person to be around and knew so much about the game. That is when my memories of Kannapolis football began to take shape in those early years. Back then all the kids in Kannapolis aspired to be Kannapolis, Cannon, and ultimately A.L. Brown football players.
(FIK) Were there any particular rituals or training that you were involved in prior to and during football season in those early years?
(HG) (Laughing) Yes there were, It was called knocking your heads together with guys in your back yard during back yard football games. (Laughing) It probably wasn’t until I was a sophomore or junior before the thought of lifting a weight ever entered my mind and that was partially due to the influence of a man named Ray Waller who was an instructor at the YMCA during that time. They had a little room that wasn’t nearly as big as my living room that had a few dumb bells, a bench press, and a couple of bar bells and that was basically it. There was no such thing as what you would called today as an organized strength and conditioning class offered anywhere. You just showed up and took the personal initiative on your own to participate in things like that. Come August the 15th when traditionally we started two a day practices that led up till right around time for school to start. A typical practice would begin with a few calisthenics and then you started killing each other. Once school started you practiced only one time a day and you were in school for almost two weeks before the season ever started.
(FIK) What are some of the major differences you see in the game today in comparison to when you played the game?
(HG) Football in that period was no where near as sophisticated as what we have today. As a matter of fact the animation and the sophistication of football today is almost laughable in terms of the way it was when I played. Back then they took the eleven best players and you hit the field running. When the game started the best eleven were on the field and when the game ended you were still on the field. Many players played both ways, and there were some exceptions because there were some who just couldn't go both ways in a game, but in my case from the time the game started until that final whistle I never came off the field. I played offense, defense, punted, I ran back kickoffs and punt returns. Lets just say I got my money’s worth. (Laughing)
(FIK) What was the atmosphere like playing in a mill town like Kannapolis and what effect did it have on how you performed?
(HG) I think as far as that aspect of things I would have to say that the work ethic was much stronger and more intense. Growing up back then you didn’t have a whole lot and what you did have or for a better word what you attained in those days you earned and you worked for it. That built character and it fed into the football we played. We all knew if we wanted to be competitive we would have to work hard at it. It wasn’t going to be handed over to us without paying a price. Kids today and I’m not categorizing all of them, but many of them don’t understand what it was like to have to get up earlier and stay up later to have anything because it’s now just handed over to them. That doesn’t teach a young person to be self sufficient and instill in them a good work ethic. You grow thinking you’re entitled and that does nothing to build a young persons character and self esteem.
I treated football just like a job I was going to go work on the weekend and I went at it knowing to get any good return I was going to have to put in the effort. I’m not sure that growing up in a mill town had anything to do with that aspect of it, but rather it was more the times we were growing up in more than anything. You take a good many of these kids today and throw them back in time to that way of doing things and I’m not so sure they would make it. We didn’t have video games and computers, and Ipods back then. There are so many things today that kids focus their attention to other than hard work and
(FIK) Your sophomore year in 1960 did you and other members of the team feel they had something special going into the year that was going to be a defining moment for Wonder football?
(HG) I did an interview with Mike London several years ago and we talked about that 1960 team and I told him “You know, we were a bunch of no names who really hadn’t accomplished much up to that point. There were really no standouts or super stars among us. We were just a bunch of classmates and friends that played football” I contribute a good portion of what became to coach Edmiston. Coach Edmiston in his own way was able to bring us together and mold us as a unit. We were a team first and foremost. We loved each other, and looked after each other and it was a team atmosphere. There were no individuals out to make a name for themselves.
Coach Edmiston’s job was to love us as players and our job was to love each other, and either directly or indirectly that was the result of that year. We became a unit sold on going out every Friday night and giving our all for the man beside us. That was a special group and we were pretty darn good. If you look real close at that season you will see that many of the scores from that year were close and any one of those teams could have beaten anybody on any given night. The conference was so well balanced. Albemarle, Mooresville, Asheboro, China Grove, Statesville were all talented tough teams. You know we tied Asheboro that year which I believe was our only blemish on our record, but had I not run a kickoff or a punt return back for a touchdown that year we would have lost that game. Same with Statesville. At the half we were behind and come the second half kickoff I ran the ball back for a touchdown that tied the game. We ultimately won that game, but in retrospect we could have very easily lost three games that year or maybe four. Anybody in our conference could have beaten anybody that year it just so happened that we had it together.
Another thing I'll add, and I give coach Edmiston credit for this is that we were a single wing team back then, which is about the nearest thing to antiquity oriented today as you could imagine for an offense. Coach Edmiston came up with so many different renditions of that offense that it became hard to defend against. Coach Edmiston was very imaginative and creative. He came up with what he called a spread offense which is nothing but the shotgun offense in the pros and it became so successful in that 1960 season, but what is so funny is that he didn’t implement that offense until the playoffs started. I remember we ended up barely beating Concord 14-8 and then of course the playoffs started. We played Albemarle and Mooresville and I remember when we came out those guys were standing there with their mouths wide open staring at us like they had never seen anything like that in their lives and they were clueless as how to defend that.
(FIK) Would you say that the 1960 team was better offensively or defensively as a unit?
(HG) The Championship game against Hickory we played at Lenoir Rhyne College they gained no yards and neither did we. If you look at the scores from that year you will see that there were very few points scored on our defense. We were just as good if not better defensively than we were offensively that year. That group if we were young today and we played some of these teams today they could just pack their things and go to the house. (Laughing)
(FIK) Describe the offense and the offensive philosophy of that 1960 team?
(HG) The way our offense operated back then and like I said earlier we ran out of the single wing. We alternated ball carrying groups and some of this gets a little political so I won’t go too much into detail about that, but we alternated series after series, after series. As a sophomore I was a tailback along with a senior named Ronnie Barlow, and Greg Clark, and another guy named Gene Stancil. What we did and I never really understood some of it was that they would have a series of downs and we would have a series of downs. The ball would exchange and then we would have a series of downs and that is basically how the offense operated.
In my opinion, and it has a lot to do with whose opnion you listen to I think that philosophy cost us the game at Hickory staright out. That ballgame was unbelievable. It was a knock down drag out type of game. We just pounded each other for four quarters. We got down towards the end of the game and the last offensive series we had Myself and Gene Stancil were the offensive group for most of the series. We drove the ball from just inside our twenty to maybe just a little inside Hickory’s twenty and when we got to that point they took us out and put the other group in. First snap the ball is fumbled and the game ended. I’ve had nightmares about that game ever since. I’m not armchair quarterbacking, but it has bothered me about that change for many years. That’s sports though, and you have to take the good with the bad, but I’ve always been of the mindset if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. (Laughing)
(FIK) I’ve noticed you rarely saw linemen back then that tipped the scale over 225lbs. Was this a philosophy or were there some intangibles that created a leaner football player back then?
(HG) Leaner and Quicker in my opinion is the best philosophy in any form of athletics. Speed and quickness beats size majority of the time. I don’t care how big and strong you are if you are slow and not have the strength and agility you are the loser. Much of that goes back to the era. Back then most these kids worked jobs after school and during the summer. They didn’t spend their time on the couch playing video games and eating all the time which made for a slimmer more athletic player. We were just always doing something that got us out of the house and off the couch. (Laughing) It’s just a matter of lifestyle and it was just a lot different in my day. It was very rare to see a player get seriously injured back then. You just didn’t see much of that and I attribute that to the lifestyle we lived. I’m not saying that it was better or that we were something more than human, but it’s just the way we lived that prepared us physically and mentally for football during that age.
(FIK) Do you think kids enjoyed the game more back in your day then they do now?
(HG) (Laughing) Enjoyed it? It wasn’t a matter of enjoyment it was a way of life for us then. (Laughing) I grew up being eight or nine years old thinking I was Leroy Scercy. I’m not so sure kids have that now. Maybe they do, but for us It was all we had. Maybe that’s where growing up in a mill town had something to do with it. Everybody and there daddy had some ties to Kannapolis football and it was a rallying point for many. I’m not sure if it is still the same way today. It’s a different town we live in now and I’m not sure those same priorities are still there. All week long I was out in the back yard pretending I was Leroy Scercy, Ronnie Hampton, and Glen Compton and come Friday night If we could get someone to take us we were down at the ball park watching those guys. It was a part of our culture and I just don’t think it holds the same level of importance to these kids today as it did to us. I could be wrong, but I just don’t see it.
(FIK) Do you see a difference in the level of support you see for the teams that existed back in your day in comparison to what you see today?
(HG) Yes. I think we have lost a big part of that, and I can’t put the blame on any one thing that has attributed to that. The biggest thing is what catches kids interest today. Again kids have more occupying their time and there is more offered today than there was in my day that the focus is not centered on just football anymore. To prove that point look at the students who attend the ballgames today. In my day they were in the stands supporting us and yelling at the top of their lungs for us no matter if we were winning or losing. Where are the students today? Just walk behind the press box and concession stands at any point during the games today and you’ll see them standing around carrying on with their friends and discussing where they are going after the game when they should be in the stands supporting the team. The athletes are the ones losing out not them. It has become a social hour for forty eight minutes during the night to them. That’s the big difference from my day and today. To be perfectly honest with you it’s embarrassing to me and I feel sorry for those players out there who are giving their all to have this sort of thing happen.
(FIK) Lets get into the Concord Rivalry. What are some of your fondest memories about the rivalry and describe the intensity that esisted in this rivalry between the two schools in your day?
(HG) What stands out the most to me about that was after we won the conference in 1960. Concord students came up to Kannapolis and they burned a “CHS” on the field. They literally burned it in the grass. They spelled out the letters in gasoline and set in on fire. That’s was memorable. I can tell you this, there was never a time that I ventured into Concord for any reason that I didn’t get into a fight with someone. I was the most hated person in that rivalry from Kannapolis to venture into Concord for any reason. Martin’s Drive In was a hot spot. Everybody knew me back then and looking back I probably should have never let my shadow darken the door of that joint during the week of the Concord game. Now don’t get me wrong I wasn’t a trouble maker and I wouldn’t hurt a single sole, but if somebody messed with me back then especially if they were from Concord there was going to be trouble.
It was more than a rivalry back then. There was just something about that game and about the two communities that we just didn’t get along with each other then. They were both basically mill towns and we took our sports teams seriously and if you attacked them you were making it personal. We took care of our own. Now it didn’t help matters at all that I dated more of the Concord girls than the Concord boys did and they couldn’t stand that at all. (Laughing) There was a fair share of antagonizing that went on from both sides, and that was just part of it. There was a definite line drawn. We all knew each other, but I will say there was a certain respect for the other when it came game time. Concord had good athletes just like we had, and even though we didn’t like them we still respected them. You would have enjoyed it much more than you probably enjoy it today had you been around for all that going on then. The passion you have for Wonder football in my day you would have had much easier access to information and to the athletes and coaches then you probably have today. I think you would have really enjoyed that time.
(FIK) The 1960 game was a tight contest with the Wonders winning it 14-8. What are your memories of that game?
(HG) It ended basically with a throw the ball up hail mary type ending with no rhyme or reason to it at all. The ball got thrown up in the air by Ronnie Barlow and Jeff Safrit got it and crossed the goal line and we won the game. It goes back to what I said earlier about the teams of that conference. Anybody could have beaten anybody if given the opportunity. We got lucky, we shouldn’t have won that game if I’m being perfectly honest. We should have beat Asheboro that year who we ended up deadlocking in that game. We went up there to Asheboro and it hadn't rained in months and when we stepped on the field you would sink down to your ankles in the mud where they had wet the field down to slow up our running game. We were much more talented and athletic than they were and we really should have won that game.
(HG) The Championship game against Hickory we played at Lenoir Rhyne College they gained no yards and neither did we. If you look at the scores from that year you will see that there were very few points scored on our defense. We were just as good if not better defensively than we were offensively that year. That group if we were young today and we played some of these teams today they could just pack their things and go to the house. (Laughing)
(FIK) Describe the offense and the offensive philosophy of that 1960 team?
(HG) The way our offense operated back then and like I said earlier we ran out of the single wing. We alternated ball carrying groups and some of this gets a little political so I won’t go too much into detail about that, but we alternated series after series, after series. As a sophomore I was a tailback along with a senior named Ronnie Barlow, and Greg Clark, and another guy named Gene Stancil. What we did and I never really understood some of it was that they would have a series of downs and we would have a series of downs. The ball would exchange and then we would have a series of downs and that is basically how the offense operated.
In my opinion, and it has a lot to do with whose opnion you listen to I think that philosophy cost us the game at Hickory staright out. That ballgame was unbelievable. It was a knock down drag out type of game. We just pounded each other for four quarters. We got down towards the end of the game and the last offensive series we had Myself and Gene Stancil were the offensive group for most of the series. We drove the ball from just inside our twenty to maybe just a little inside Hickory’s twenty and when we got to that point they took us out and put the other group in. First snap the ball is fumbled and the game ended. I’ve had nightmares about that game ever since. I’m not armchair quarterbacking, but it has bothered me about that change for many years. That’s sports though, and you have to take the good with the bad, but I’ve always been of the mindset if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. (Laughing)
(FIK) I’ve noticed you rarely saw linemen back then that tipped the scale over 225lbs. Was this a philosophy or were there some intangibles that created a leaner football player back then?
(HG) Leaner and Quicker in my opinion is the best philosophy in any form of athletics. Speed and quickness beats size majority of the time. I don’t care how big and strong you are if you are slow and not have the strength and agility you are the loser. Much of that goes back to the era. Back then most these kids worked jobs after school and during the summer. They didn’t spend their time on the couch playing video games and eating all the time which made for a slimmer more athletic player. We were just always doing something that got us out of the house and off the couch. (Laughing) It’s just a matter of lifestyle and it was just a lot different in my day. It was very rare to see a player get seriously injured back then. You just didn’t see much of that and I attribute that to the lifestyle we lived. I’m not saying that it was better or that we were something more than human, but it’s just the way we lived that prepared us physically and mentally for football during that age.
(FIK) Do you think kids enjoyed the game more back in your day then they do now?
(HG) (Laughing) Enjoyed it? It wasn’t a matter of enjoyment it was a way of life for us then. (Laughing) I grew up being eight or nine years old thinking I was Leroy Scercy. I’m not so sure kids have that now. Maybe they do, but for us It was all we had. Maybe that’s where growing up in a mill town had something to do with it. Everybody and there daddy had some ties to Kannapolis football and it was a rallying point for many. I’m not sure if it is still the same way today. It’s a different town we live in now and I’m not sure those same priorities are still there. All week long I was out in the back yard pretending I was Leroy Scercy, Ronnie Hampton, and Glen Compton and come Friday night If we could get someone to take us we were down at the ball park watching those guys. It was a part of our culture and I just don’t think it holds the same level of importance to these kids today as it did to us. I could be wrong, but I just don’t see it.
(FIK) Do you see a difference in the level of support you see for the teams that existed back in your day in comparison to what you see today?
(HG) Yes. I think we have lost a big part of that, and I can’t put the blame on any one thing that has attributed to that. The biggest thing is what catches kids interest today. Again kids have more occupying their time and there is more offered today than there was in my day that the focus is not centered on just football anymore. To prove that point look at the students who attend the ballgames today. In my day they were in the stands supporting us and yelling at the top of their lungs for us no matter if we were winning or losing. Where are the students today? Just walk behind the press box and concession stands at any point during the games today and you’ll see them standing around carrying on with their friends and discussing where they are going after the game when they should be in the stands supporting the team. The athletes are the ones losing out not them. It has become a social hour for forty eight minutes during the night to them. That’s the big difference from my day and today. To be perfectly honest with you it’s embarrassing to me and I feel sorry for those players out there who are giving their all to have this sort of thing happen.
(FIK) Lets get into the Concord Rivalry. What are some of your fondest memories about the rivalry and describe the intensity that esisted in this rivalry between the two schools in your day?
(HG) What stands out the most to me about that was after we won the conference in 1960. Concord students came up to Kannapolis and they burned a “CHS” on the field. They literally burned it in the grass. They spelled out the letters in gasoline and set in on fire. That’s was memorable. I can tell you this, there was never a time that I ventured into Concord for any reason that I didn’t get into a fight with someone. I was the most hated person in that rivalry from Kannapolis to venture into Concord for any reason. Martin’s Drive In was a hot spot. Everybody knew me back then and looking back I probably should have never let my shadow darken the door of that joint during the week of the Concord game. Now don’t get me wrong I wasn’t a trouble maker and I wouldn’t hurt a single sole, but if somebody messed with me back then especially if they were from Concord there was going to be trouble.
It was more than a rivalry back then. There was just something about that game and about the two communities that we just didn’t get along with each other then. They were both basically mill towns and we took our sports teams seriously and if you attacked them you were making it personal. We took care of our own. Now it didn’t help matters at all that I dated more of the Concord girls than the Concord boys did and they couldn’t stand that at all. (Laughing) There was a fair share of antagonizing that went on from both sides, and that was just part of it. There was a definite line drawn. We all knew each other, but I will say there was a certain respect for the other when it came game time. Concord had good athletes just like we had, and even though we didn’t like them we still respected them. You would have enjoyed it much more than you probably enjoy it today had you been around for all that going on then. The passion you have for Wonder football in my day you would have had much easier access to information and to the athletes and coaches then you probably have today. I think you would have really enjoyed that time.
(FIK) The 1960 game was a tight contest with the Wonders winning it 14-8. What are your memories of that game?
(HG) It ended basically with a throw the ball up hail mary type ending with no rhyme or reason to it at all. The ball got thrown up in the air by Ronnie Barlow and Jeff Safrit got it and crossed the goal line and we won the game. It goes back to what I said earlier about the teams of that conference. Anybody could have beaten anybody if given the opportunity. We got lucky, we shouldn’t have won that game if I’m being perfectly honest. We should have beat Asheboro that year who we ended up deadlocking in that game. We went up there to Asheboro and it hadn't rained in months and when we stepped on the field you would sink down to your ankles in the mud where they had wet the field down to slow up our running game. We were much more talented and athletic than they were and we really should have won that game.
(FIK) Moving ahead a year to 1961 can you tell me how devastating it was for you to injure you’re knee and have to sit out the season?
(HG) I injured my knee in the latter part of pre season practice in 1961 when somebody rolled up on the back of it and of course I went to the doctors and they told me I could be risking further injury if I decided to give it a go. I played a limited role in the Boyden game my junior year. I believe I punted a few times and had one offensive series, but It was pretty apparent that I was pretty much done for the year. The following week I tried again against East Mecklenburg and got hit again and that pretty much did me in for the year. I was looking at having full reconstructive knee surgery the following week. It was hard. As an athlete all you want is to contribute to your team. It was never anything personal for me trying to get as much recognition as I could get, but rather how could I help our team. I still had my speed, but I couldn’t make the cuts or stop on a dime like I could before and it was a hard pill to swallow for me.
We were favorites that year to win the whole thing and we were as excited to get the season started as you could imagine. What made matters worse was Bobby Compton who was another great running back blew his knee out and then there were a few more injuries that just absolutely dismembered our core. We just didn’t seem to recover after that. We went from what we thought was going to be a super team to a mediocre team at best and that was tough especially when you have such high aspirations. It just bothered me that I couldn’t contribute and I felt like I was letting our team down.
(FIK) Do you think injuries are more prevalent today as opposed to when you played?
(HG) I do. I can’t tell you why, but I do. It seemed back when I played there were very few serious injuries, now there were some exceptions like me, but on the average you really didn’t see much of that. This was in a time when faceguards were just becoming popular. You had you’re usual bloodied nose or broken teeth or minor sprains, but as a whole the serious injuries were just no that prevalent. The big thing was breaking in new shoes. The shoes we had were really stiff when you first started wearing them and it was a job to get those things broken in to where you didn’t have blisters all over your ankles and feet.
(FIK) How would you describe your senior season as you finished out your career as a Wonder?
(HG) My senior year was good. I had the opportunity to get back on the field and try to make an impact. I think I ended up rushing for a little over one thousand yards and scored some touchdowns. I remember the game I played against Thomasville in 1962 which ended up being a standout performance for me. I believe I had a couple of long runs and ended up scoring two or three times that game. I think I had something to prove to myself that year because I really wanted to go out on a high note not like it was for me in 1961 of course the record didn’t indicate that. I think we ended up going just a little better than we did in 1961, but just to be able to get out there and be with my fellow teammates was all I wanted.
(FIK) Did you have many aspirations of playing division one college ball at this time?
(HG) Absolutely. I was recruited by tons of schools back then, but my goal was to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After I re injured my knee again against Mooresville in 1962 they were kind of hesitant about signing a crippled high school runningback who they were unsure of whether or not I could contribute to the team so they recommended that I go to a prep school which is basically what I did. I ended up going to Fredrick Military Academy in Portsmouth Virginia and played ball there. We had a very good team and went undefeated one year. We played Carolina, and East Carolina, and all the major military schools and pounded all of them.
The last game of my freshman season I blew my knee out again and had to go through a second reconstructive surgery. After that the handwriting was pretty much on the wall and I had basically come to the decision that I was pretty much done with sports. I went on to play a little baseball and had some success at that, but football was pretty much over for me at that point.
(FIK) Knowing what you know today, and growing up in the time you did, if you could speak to some of these athletes today what advice would you give them to help them to make the most of their high school experience and being a Wonder?
(HG) The first thing I would tell them is that their number one responsibility is to first and foremost be a gentleman. Their second responsibility is to be a student, and their third responsibility is to be an athlete. If you don’t do those first two things you don’t stand a chance in this world. That’s not exactly what you want to tell a kid before a football game, but it’s something they need to hear. Those three things as far as I am concerned are the three staples of life. If you don’t put those three things as priorities you’re not going to be successful in life. You’re not going to be a good an athlete if you’re first not a good student, and then if you’re not a gentleman you will eventually wind up getting trouble and being a great athlete is not going to matter.
(FIK) Do you think that is a realistic expectation in today's society?
(HG) No. I’m sad to say, but no it’s not. Kids have a tough time growing up today, and I’m not speaking about all of them, but you know as well as I do some of the lack of parental guidance going on today. These kids are left to their own devices and to be perfectly honest they have too many devices. Today for the most part you have both parents working to make ends meet, and these kids are left alone to figure things out for themselves. Athletics can save some of these kids from that if they go about it the right way, but the bottom line is the proper guidance has to be there.
(HG) I injured my knee in the latter part of pre season practice in 1961 when somebody rolled up on the back of it and of course I went to the doctors and they told me I could be risking further injury if I decided to give it a go. I played a limited role in the Boyden game my junior year. I believe I punted a few times and had one offensive series, but It was pretty apparent that I was pretty much done for the year. The following week I tried again against East Mecklenburg and got hit again and that pretty much did me in for the year. I was looking at having full reconstructive knee surgery the following week. It was hard. As an athlete all you want is to contribute to your team. It was never anything personal for me trying to get as much recognition as I could get, but rather how could I help our team. I still had my speed, but I couldn’t make the cuts or stop on a dime like I could before and it was a hard pill to swallow for me.
We were favorites that year to win the whole thing and we were as excited to get the season started as you could imagine. What made matters worse was Bobby Compton who was another great running back blew his knee out and then there were a few more injuries that just absolutely dismembered our core. We just didn’t seem to recover after that. We went from what we thought was going to be a super team to a mediocre team at best and that was tough especially when you have such high aspirations. It just bothered me that I couldn’t contribute and I felt like I was letting our team down.
(FIK) Do you think injuries are more prevalent today as opposed to when you played?
(HG) I do. I can’t tell you why, but I do. It seemed back when I played there were very few serious injuries, now there were some exceptions like me, but on the average you really didn’t see much of that. This was in a time when faceguards were just becoming popular. You had you’re usual bloodied nose or broken teeth or minor sprains, but as a whole the serious injuries were just no that prevalent. The big thing was breaking in new shoes. The shoes we had were really stiff when you first started wearing them and it was a job to get those things broken in to where you didn’t have blisters all over your ankles and feet.
(FIK) How would you describe your senior season as you finished out your career as a Wonder?
(HG) My senior year was good. I had the opportunity to get back on the field and try to make an impact. I think I ended up rushing for a little over one thousand yards and scored some touchdowns. I remember the game I played against Thomasville in 1962 which ended up being a standout performance for me. I believe I had a couple of long runs and ended up scoring two or three times that game. I think I had something to prove to myself that year because I really wanted to go out on a high note not like it was for me in 1961 of course the record didn’t indicate that. I think we ended up going just a little better than we did in 1961, but just to be able to get out there and be with my fellow teammates was all I wanted.
(FIK) Did you have many aspirations of playing division one college ball at this time?
(HG) Absolutely. I was recruited by tons of schools back then, but my goal was to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After I re injured my knee again against Mooresville in 1962 they were kind of hesitant about signing a crippled high school runningback who they were unsure of whether or not I could contribute to the team so they recommended that I go to a prep school which is basically what I did. I ended up going to Fredrick Military Academy in Portsmouth Virginia and played ball there. We had a very good team and went undefeated one year. We played Carolina, and East Carolina, and all the major military schools and pounded all of them.
The last game of my freshman season I blew my knee out again and had to go through a second reconstructive surgery. After that the handwriting was pretty much on the wall and I had basically come to the decision that I was pretty much done with sports. I went on to play a little baseball and had some success at that, but football was pretty much over for me at that point.
(FIK) Knowing what you know today, and growing up in the time you did, if you could speak to some of these athletes today what advice would you give them to help them to make the most of their high school experience and being a Wonder?
(HG) The first thing I would tell them is that their number one responsibility is to first and foremost be a gentleman. Their second responsibility is to be a student, and their third responsibility is to be an athlete. If you don’t do those first two things you don’t stand a chance in this world. That’s not exactly what you want to tell a kid before a football game, but it’s something they need to hear. Those three things as far as I am concerned are the three staples of life. If you don’t put those three things as priorities you’re not going to be successful in life. You’re not going to be a good an athlete if you’re first not a good student, and then if you’re not a gentleman you will eventually wind up getting trouble and being a great athlete is not going to matter.
(FIK) Do you think that is a realistic expectation in today's society?
(HG) No. I’m sad to say, but no it’s not. Kids have a tough time growing up today, and I’m not speaking about all of them, but you know as well as I do some of the lack of parental guidance going on today. These kids are left to their own devices and to be perfectly honest they have too many devices. Today for the most part you have both parents working to make ends meet, and these kids are left alone to figure things out for themselves. Athletics can save some of these kids from that if they go about it the right way, but the bottom line is the proper guidance has to be there.
After High School Harry Greene would begin his collegiate football career at Fredrick Military Academy in Portsmouth Virginia where he excelled as a running back under coach Emory Davis. For Greene his high school experience was a roller coaster ride of tremendous highs and gut wrenching lows. Greene was left to ponder the rest of his days what he could have achieved had he not missed his junior season in 1961, but he doesn’t dwell on it. “That’s what can happen playing football, and looking back in retrospect I probably should have never tried to come back against East Meck, but you cant re live the past.” Harry Greene went down in the Wonder record books along with the likes of Leroy Scercy as one of the best running backs of the day and wasn’t challenged until A.L. Brown High School integrated back in 1967 and a young kid named Haskell Stanback arrived on the scene. By today’s standards the feats of Harry Greene may pale in comparison to the likes of Terry Baxter, Tracy Johnson, Wayne Martin, Nick Maddox, and Travis Riley, but nobody can take away Greene’s contributions to the history of Wonder football.
Greene is now living a peaceful existence in Kannapolis and is retired. Arguably in better physical shape than some teenagers I know Greene has an exceptional outlook on life and views his time as a Wonder football player as a very special moment in his life. Greene has always believed Kannapolis football is a privilege for young people to have the opportunity to participate in and believes they should take that opportunity seriously. “What most of these kids don’t realize is that they are a part of something that is bigger than themselves and that they owe their best effort on and off the field to preserve what Kannapolis football and what being a Wonder means. It makes me so angry to see some of the athletes do good on the football field and then make bad decisions that tarnish their accomplishments. They should think about what they are doing and how if affects their legacy” After meeting with Greene it became ever so clear what we have lost in the modern age, Integrity. Integrity was a big part of everything young men did back during Harry Greene’s youth and it’s something that needs to be instilled in these young men today. Have we come too far to turn back now? That’s the question for the ages, and only time will tell if our path in life has gone beyond the point of no return.
Friday Nights in K-Town would like to thank Former Wonder standout Harry Greene for opening up his home and his heart to share with Wonder nation his experiences of life as a Little Wonder from 1960 to 1962. It’s refreshing to get back to your roots and to see that pride is something that still exists in ones accomplishments and endeavors. If time is indeed the ultimate judge of success and failure then Harry Greene is living proof that no matter what hardships you must endure to reach your goals and make your mark on life, it’s all worth it if you do it with passion and integrity.
Greene is now living a peaceful existence in Kannapolis and is retired. Arguably in better physical shape than some teenagers I know Greene has an exceptional outlook on life and views his time as a Wonder football player as a very special moment in his life. Greene has always believed Kannapolis football is a privilege for young people to have the opportunity to participate in and believes they should take that opportunity seriously. “What most of these kids don’t realize is that they are a part of something that is bigger than themselves and that they owe their best effort on and off the field to preserve what Kannapolis football and what being a Wonder means. It makes me so angry to see some of the athletes do good on the football field and then make bad decisions that tarnish their accomplishments. They should think about what they are doing and how if affects their legacy” After meeting with Greene it became ever so clear what we have lost in the modern age, Integrity. Integrity was a big part of everything young men did back during Harry Greene’s youth and it’s something that needs to be instilled in these young men today. Have we come too far to turn back now? That’s the question for the ages, and only time will tell if our path in life has gone beyond the point of no return.
Friday Nights in K-Town would like to thank Former Wonder standout Harry Greene for opening up his home and his heart to share with Wonder nation his experiences of life as a Little Wonder from 1960 to 1962. It’s refreshing to get back to your roots and to see that pride is something that still exists in ones accomplishments and endeavors. If time is indeed the ultimate judge of success and failure then Harry Greene is living proof that no matter what hardships you must endure to reach your goals and make your mark on life, it’s all worth it if you do it with passion and integrity.
"Harry Greene"
*To revisit the glory days of former Wonder great Harry Greene click on the appropriate button text below*
1960
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1961
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1962
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"The Pat Moore Profile"
1984-1988
"Learning Life Lessons Through Football"
If you Use the title “Minister of Defense” when referencing a football player he better have the accolades to go along with the title and the physical ability to back it up. When you say Minister of Defense for most people the memory of the late great Reggie White of the Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers comes to mind, but in Kannapolis during the years of 1984-1987 another menacing individual garnered that prestigious title and by the end of his high school career had cemented a legacy at A.L. Brown High School as one of the best defensive linemen to ever play in Kannapolis. The Minister of Defense I’m referring to is none other than Pat Moore.
Pat Moore played with the same level of enthusiasm and lust for contact as White did and for opposing teams coming into Kannapolis Memorial Stadium it was a high school football players worst nightmare personified. By Moore’s senior year he was standing 6’2 244lbs and could run a 4.85 forty which was very good for a man his size. When opposing teams designed their offensive strategies they first had to come up with some way to neutralize Moore if they had any plans of being successful. Moore was just as smart of a football player as he was tough and excelled in a defensive scheme designed by then head coach Bob Boswell who utilized Moore with devastating results for the Wonders. By Moore’s own admission he never thought of himself as anything more than who he was on the football field, but for those who played against him Moore left a lasting impression far greater than anything Moore could have dreamed possible. A former Concord Spider from that era once told me “Moore hit harder than anybody I ever played against and he took personal enjoyment out of making your night miserable if he could” That same response is echoed throughout the South Piedmont Conference and Central Piedmont 4A conference of the late eighties.
As a kid Moore began his football career as a budding young fourth grader playing for Jim Widenhouse Pontiac Buick who sponsored Fred L Wilson elementary school in little league football. Moore’s first exposure to organized football was an eye opening experience and by his own admission he did not realize the amount of cardiovascular prowess one needed to possess to be competitive and quit after only a few weeks. Enticed by his brother Mike who was excelling in his own right, Moore was coaxed back to playing football his fifth grade year. Being the biggest kid out there at the time it didn’t take long for Moore to get noticed. Moore admits that as a kid he was much bigger than most of the kids he played against which gave him a very unfair advantage in that league. Because of his above standard size he was not allowed to participate against little league players and was sent to play with the ranks of the middle school athletes during his sixth grade year.
By the time Moore was in the sixth grade he had already been targeted as a potential sleeper athlete by then coach Jim Fowler who reported this information to Bob Boswell and the powers to be at the time at A.L. Brown High School. Part of Boswell’s advanced physical education program that was implemented throughout the Kannapolis City Schools at that time Moore possessed qualities as a defensive lineman that had not been seen since the likes of Lance Smith in the late seventies. Coach Fowler was instructed to take Moore to practice with the middle school at G.W. Carver under coach Lex Graham. Reluctant to take Moore on due to some missed practice sessions Graham conceded and Moore would end up playing his entire sixth grade year with the middle school. It was then while in the middle school setting Moore would be introduced to something that would take him to new levels in his athletic development, and that was Weight lifting. Moore stated that “When I started lifting weights something I didn’t know existed inside of me came out and it was a good thing. Lifting weights and seeing how quickly I progressed gave me a mental and physical confidence that I had never experienced" By the time Moore reached high school he was bench pressing 400lbs and Power Cleaning close to 300lbs which set him apart from the pack immediately. Moore’s seemingly freakish strength would allow him to attain records in weightlifting that are still the benchmark at A.L. Brown High School today. By the time Moore had graduated in 1988 he was bench pressing 500lbs while deadlifting 625lbs. Moore was also squatting 525lbs while power cleaning 305lbs an impressive statistic even today.
Moore also proved himself in high school to be a first class wrestler who by his senior year had claimed the 4A heavyweight wrestling state championship by pinning Derek Fewell of Gastonia Ashbrook who had beaten Moore one week prior in the regional finals by a disqualification. In the 4A state final Moore pinned Fewell in a marathon fifty eight seconds to garner the title. Moore was 21-2 his senior year as a wrestler with his two losses coming from opponents he would later defeat on his way the to 4A state wrestling title. Moore today is also considered to be one of the finest wrestlers to come out of Kannapolis, but Moore saved his best for the football field where after four seasons he was a combined total of 31-9 as a starter in both the 3A and 4A classifications. Moore earned All County, All SPC, and All CPC honors as well as being selected the CPC player of the year for 1987 along with coach of the year Bob Boswell. Moore was selected along side his partner Lester Smith for the 1987 Shrine Bowl Classic, but this is only a brief synopsis into the life and times of a true Wonder great and there is more to the story than meets the eye. Friday Nights in K-Town sat down with Pat Moore one afternoon to get an inside look at what it takes to be considered one of the best at his craft and how still today he finds the time to keep himself in playing form. It was a great interview and quite an honor to be among the Wonder elite. The conversation went as follows.
Pat Moore played with the same level of enthusiasm and lust for contact as White did and for opposing teams coming into Kannapolis Memorial Stadium it was a high school football players worst nightmare personified. By Moore’s senior year he was standing 6’2 244lbs and could run a 4.85 forty which was very good for a man his size. When opposing teams designed their offensive strategies they first had to come up with some way to neutralize Moore if they had any plans of being successful. Moore was just as smart of a football player as he was tough and excelled in a defensive scheme designed by then head coach Bob Boswell who utilized Moore with devastating results for the Wonders. By Moore’s own admission he never thought of himself as anything more than who he was on the football field, but for those who played against him Moore left a lasting impression far greater than anything Moore could have dreamed possible. A former Concord Spider from that era once told me “Moore hit harder than anybody I ever played against and he took personal enjoyment out of making your night miserable if he could” That same response is echoed throughout the South Piedmont Conference and Central Piedmont 4A conference of the late eighties.
As a kid Moore began his football career as a budding young fourth grader playing for Jim Widenhouse Pontiac Buick who sponsored Fred L Wilson elementary school in little league football. Moore’s first exposure to organized football was an eye opening experience and by his own admission he did not realize the amount of cardiovascular prowess one needed to possess to be competitive and quit after only a few weeks. Enticed by his brother Mike who was excelling in his own right, Moore was coaxed back to playing football his fifth grade year. Being the biggest kid out there at the time it didn’t take long for Moore to get noticed. Moore admits that as a kid he was much bigger than most of the kids he played against which gave him a very unfair advantage in that league. Because of his above standard size he was not allowed to participate against little league players and was sent to play with the ranks of the middle school athletes during his sixth grade year.
By the time Moore was in the sixth grade he had already been targeted as a potential sleeper athlete by then coach Jim Fowler who reported this information to Bob Boswell and the powers to be at the time at A.L. Brown High School. Part of Boswell’s advanced physical education program that was implemented throughout the Kannapolis City Schools at that time Moore possessed qualities as a defensive lineman that had not been seen since the likes of Lance Smith in the late seventies. Coach Fowler was instructed to take Moore to practice with the middle school at G.W. Carver under coach Lex Graham. Reluctant to take Moore on due to some missed practice sessions Graham conceded and Moore would end up playing his entire sixth grade year with the middle school. It was then while in the middle school setting Moore would be introduced to something that would take him to new levels in his athletic development, and that was Weight lifting. Moore stated that “When I started lifting weights something I didn’t know existed inside of me came out and it was a good thing. Lifting weights and seeing how quickly I progressed gave me a mental and physical confidence that I had never experienced" By the time Moore reached high school he was bench pressing 400lbs and Power Cleaning close to 300lbs which set him apart from the pack immediately. Moore’s seemingly freakish strength would allow him to attain records in weightlifting that are still the benchmark at A.L. Brown High School today. By the time Moore had graduated in 1988 he was bench pressing 500lbs while deadlifting 625lbs. Moore was also squatting 525lbs while power cleaning 305lbs an impressive statistic even today.
Moore also proved himself in high school to be a first class wrestler who by his senior year had claimed the 4A heavyweight wrestling state championship by pinning Derek Fewell of Gastonia Ashbrook who had beaten Moore one week prior in the regional finals by a disqualification. In the 4A state final Moore pinned Fewell in a marathon fifty eight seconds to garner the title. Moore was 21-2 his senior year as a wrestler with his two losses coming from opponents he would later defeat on his way the to 4A state wrestling title. Moore today is also considered to be one of the finest wrestlers to come out of Kannapolis, but Moore saved his best for the football field where after four seasons he was a combined total of 31-9 as a starter in both the 3A and 4A classifications. Moore earned All County, All SPC, and All CPC honors as well as being selected the CPC player of the year for 1987 along with coach of the year Bob Boswell. Moore was selected along side his partner Lester Smith for the 1987 Shrine Bowl Classic, but this is only a brief synopsis into the life and times of a true Wonder great and there is more to the story than meets the eye. Friday Nights in K-Town sat down with Pat Moore one afternoon to get an inside look at what it takes to be considered one of the best at his craft and how still today he finds the time to keep himself in playing form. It was a great interview and quite an honor to be among the Wonder elite. The conversation went as follows.
(FIK) How did you get started playing football as a kid?
(PM) Well, I actually started in the fourth grade at Fred L Wilson. Now a lot of people probably don’t know this, but I actually went out there, and I was doing good you know. I was pushing people around and I was out there for probably a week and I came home one day and told my daddy listen, I can’t do this no more we just doing too much running. (laughing) I had never done anything like that before. You see my brother was the big athlete back then and I just had no idea how much conditioning was involved so I quit.
Now my coaches tried to get me to come back and my daddy tried to get me to go back, but I just wouldn’t go. I kept going to the practices though and I don’t understand why, but I would still go to watch the practice sessions. Now the next year which was my fifth grade year I went back out. You see back then businesses would sponsor each elementary school and Jim Widenhouse sponsored Fred L Wilson. Now I have to tell you I regretted not sticking it out in the fourth grade because that year my brother started scoring one touchdown after the other and to be quite honest I got jealous. (Laughing) I got jealous and so my fifth grade year I just stuck with it. I didn’t want to go through the shame again of quitting, but I just didn’t realize how much in shape you needed to be to play the game. I had no clue, but I’ll tell you one thing, I was the biggest one out there. (laughing)
(FIK) Did you look at your size as being and advantage or a disadvantage?
(PM) Well, you know back then they didn’t harp to much on your weight like they do now, because now if you weigh a certain amount today you can’t play with those people. I was playing as a defensive lineman then in the tackle position which is what I ended up playing for most of my career. I did play a little nose guard which was what I ended up playing when I got to Appalachian State, but for the most part during my developmental years I was at tackle. I started excelling probably my fifth grade year because I was so much bigger than everyone else. My fifth grade year was actually the only season I got to play with Jim Widenhouse because they wouldn’t let me play another year with them in the sixth grade. I had to move up.
(FIK) When did you begin to get approached by coaches from the high school?
(PM) Now that didn’t happen until I got to the sixth grade. I had a coach named coach Fowler and apparently he started talking to coach Boswell about me and suggested that I go on over to the middle school. Now Lex Graham was coaching over there then and to be perfectly honest with you I’m not sure he was all that excited to have me at first. You see when they took me over there they had already been practicing for about two weeks which was two weeks I didn’t get to practice with them. When coach Fowler took me over there they were handing out equipment and he started fussing about the time I had missed. I was just doing what they were telling me to do and to be honest with you it was harder on me then it was on them and I understood his point of view because here I am coming over to the middle school to play and I hadn’t even been practicing with them.
So coach fowler took me over to the high school to get my equipment and coach Graham was there and he told coach Fowler “He’s not suiting up now. We have already been practicing and he’s late so he’s not suiting up. Well, coach Fowler told him “The man said suit him up” (The man referring to coach Boswell) Coach Boswell had a lot of pull over things back then even down to the elementary schools. Boswell ran the whole program which was a good thing because when you got over to the middle school you were running exactly what the high school ran and the only difference was the color of your uniform. All you had to do when you went over to the Jr High school was change uniform color that was it. The offensive and defensive philosophies were the same. That’s what they need today if they’re not doing that. I can’t imagine them not doing that with this new head coach. I can’t remember who it was I was talking with back then, but I’m sure it was one of the coaches and he told me Boswell wanted it that way so when you got over to the high school you already knew the scheme. That’s why those teams were so good under Boswell. You didn’t miss a step going from middle school to high school. Everything was planned out and mapped out exactly the way coach Boswell wanted it. Man, I’m telling you coach Boswell was a powerful man. (laughing) I remember my first game in the seventh grade coach Graham put me in the game for nine seconds. (laughing) We had already won the game and coach Graham put me in for nine seconds. After that I started the rest of the way. (Laughing)
(FIK) At what point did you begin to get heavily in to weight lifting and your strength and conditioning?
(PM) That started probably around the time I got over to the middle school because they had nothing of the kind in elementary school. All we did then was run. I didn’t actually start lifting until I was in the seventh grade and it was absolutely the bare minimum because it really wasn’t prevalent in the middle school. Now the football players did lift some, but if I recall correctly it was just like a crossover cable machine that had a few different types of weight lifting exercises and a bench press, but nothing extravagant. That didn’t really start until I got over to the high school or about the ninth grade. We only did some bench pressing and leg pressing and that was about it. I didn’t start lifting anything really heavy until I got in the ninth grade.
(FIK) When did you realize you had a special gift for lifting?
(PM) Probably about the eighth grade because near the end of my eighth grade year I was doing the whole stack on the bench press and leg press and it really wasn’t that much, but it was all they had. So I thought then that maybe there was something there that existed in me that I could do really well. I knew I had some ability in the bench press and leg press from the time I was in the seventh grade till about the eighth grade because we didn’t do anything else. By the time the ninth grade rolled around I was horrible at power cleans because to be honest with you I was afraid to do it because it takes some form to do that. Now going forward just a little bit I remember my junior year in high school Tracy Johnson was power cleaning over three hundred and some odd pounds and the day we tested he looked over at me and said “Pat you can have that record” because I could do like 295lbs with horrible form. Man when I would power clean I had no form I would just man handle it. I wouldn’t get up under it or nothing it was just man handling it up. Tracy would bring it up and get under it and do it the correct way so he was able to really get a lot of weight up, but that day he just told me I could have that record. (laughing) and I held it for about a year and then somebody came up and beat it. It was about 285lbs which is really not that much. These kids today are probably doing three hundred plus pounds today.
By the time the ninth grade rolled around we began doing other forms of weight lifting so I became exposed to different techniques. Now I was horrible at power cleans because to be honest with you I was afraid to do it because it takes some form to do that properly. Now going forward just a little bit I remember my junior year in high school Tracy Johnson was power cleaning over three hundred and some odd pounds and the day we tested he looked over at me and said “Pat you can have that record” because I could do like 295lbs with horrible form. Man when I would power clean I had no form I would just man handle it. I wouldn’t get up under it or nothing it was just man handling it up. Tracy would bring it up and get under it and do it the correct way so he was able to really get a lot of weight up, but that day he just told me I could have that record. (laughing) and I held it for about a year and then somebody came up and beat it. It was about 285lbs which is really not that much. These kids today are probably doing three hundred plus pounds today, but what I could do was dead lift and bench press. I got 625lbs on dead lift which I have no clue how I did that because I have these little ol legs (laughing) and I got to 475lbs on bench press.
Now I have to tell ya, I got that record on bench press almost as a dare. Football was over and I believe we were in wrestling season, but everybody was still lifting and this particular time Boswell came in the room and just came over and said “I bet you can’t get 500lbs” Now everyday I would go in and lift and I would just lift normal as everybody else did, but then one day a week I would go in there and I would put 500lbs or 510lbs on the bar and just do negatives just to get use to the weight. I would have three spotters one on each side and one in the middle and I would do negatives and they would help me get it back up. To me I didn’t think it would be that difficult cause you only got to do it once. (laughing) So I just put 500lbs on the bar and just pushed it up and that was it. I had the record then. I didn’t want one of those t-shirts they gave out I wanted one of those nice coaches jackets. So they got me a jacket and put 500 club on it and that was it. I wish I still had that jacket though it was really nice, but I got up to Appalachian State and somebody stole it. (laughing)
(PM) Well, I actually started in the fourth grade at Fred L Wilson. Now a lot of people probably don’t know this, but I actually went out there, and I was doing good you know. I was pushing people around and I was out there for probably a week and I came home one day and told my daddy listen, I can’t do this no more we just doing too much running. (laughing) I had never done anything like that before. You see my brother was the big athlete back then and I just had no idea how much conditioning was involved so I quit.
Now my coaches tried to get me to come back and my daddy tried to get me to go back, but I just wouldn’t go. I kept going to the practices though and I don’t understand why, but I would still go to watch the practice sessions. Now the next year which was my fifth grade year I went back out. You see back then businesses would sponsor each elementary school and Jim Widenhouse sponsored Fred L Wilson. Now I have to tell you I regretted not sticking it out in the fourth grade because that year my brother started scoring one touchdown after the other and to be quite honest I got jealous. (Laughing) I got jealous and so my fifth grade year I just stuck with it. I didn’t want to go through the shame again of quitting, but I just didn’t realize how much in shape you needed to be to play the game. I had no clue, but I’ll tell you one thing, I was the biggest one out there. (laughing)
(FIK) Did you look at your size as being and advantage or a disadvantage?
(PM) Well, you know back then they didn’t harp to much on your weight like they do now, because now if you weigh a certain amount today you can’t play with those people. I was playing as a defensive lineman then in the tackle position which is what I ended up playing for most of my career. I did play a little nose guard which was what I ended up playing when I got to Appalachian State, but for the most part during my developmental years I was at tackle. I started excelling probably my fifth grade year because I was so much bigger than everyone else. My fifth grade year was actually the only season I got to play with Jim Widenhouse because they wouldn’t let me play another year with them in the sixth grade. I had to move up.
(FIK) When did you begin to get approached by coaches from the high school?
(PM) Now that didn’t happen until I got to the sixth grade. I had a coach named coach Fowler and apparently he started talking to coach Boswell about me and suggested that I go on over to the middle school. Now Lex Graham was coaching over there then and to be perfectly honest with you I’m not sure he was all that excited to have me at first. You see when they took me over there they had already been practicing for about two weeks which was two weeks I didn’t get to practice with them. When coach Fowler took me over there they were handing out equipment and he started fussing about the time I had missed. I was just doing what they were telling me to do and to be honest with you it was harder on me then it was on them and I understood his point of view because here I am coming over to the middle school to play and I hadn’t even been practicing with them.
So coach fowler took me over to the high school to get my equipment and coach Graham was there and he told coach Fowler “He’s not suiting up now. We have already been practicing and he’s late so he’s not suiting up. Well, coach Fowler told him “The man said suit him up” (The man referring to coach Boswell) Coach Boswell had a lot of pull over things back then even down to the elementary schools. Boswell ran the whole program which was a good thing because when you got over to the middle school you were running exactly what the high school ran and the only difference was the color of your uniform. All you had to do when you went over to the Jr High school was change uniform color that was it. The offensive and defensive philosophies were the same. That’s what they need today if they’re not doing that. I can’t imagine them not doing that with this new head coach. I can’t remember who it was I was talking with back then, but I’m sure it was one of the coaches and he told me Boswell wanted it that way so when you got over to the high school you already knew the scheme. That’s why those teams were so good under Boswell. You didn’t miss a step going from middle school to high school. Everything was planned out and mapped out exactly the way coach Boswell wanted it. Man, I’m telling you coach Boswell was a powerful man. (laughing) I remember my first game in the seventh grade coach Graham put me in the game for nine seconds. (laughing) We had already won the game and coach Graham put me in for nine seconds. After that I started the rest of the way. (Laughing)
(FIK) At what point did you begin to get heavily in to weight lifting and your strength and conditioning?
(PM) That started probably around the time I got over to the middle school because they had nothing of the kind in elementary school. All we did then was run. I didn’t actually start lifting until I was in the seventh grade and it was absolutely the bare minimum because it really wasn’t prevalent in the middle school. Now the football players did lift some, but if I recall correctly it was just like a crossover cable machine that had a few different types of weight lifting exercises and a bench press, but nothing extravagant. That didn’t really start until I got over to the high school or about the ninth grade. We only did some bench pressing and leg pressing and that was about it. I didn’t start lifting anything really heavy until I got in the ninth grade.
(FIK) When did you realize you had a special gift for lifting?
(PM) Probably about the eighth grade because near the end of my eighth grade year I was doing the whole stack on the bench press and leg press and it really wasn’t that much, but it was all they had. So I thought then that maybe there was something there that existed in me that I could do really well. I knew I had some ability in the bench press and leg press from the time I was in the seventh grade till about the eighth grade because we didn’t do anything else. By the time the ninth grade rolled around I was horrible at power cleans because to be honest with you I was afraid to do it because it takes some form to do that. Now going forward just a little bit I remember my junior year in high school Tracy Johnson was power cleaning over three hundred and some odd pounds and the day we tested he looked over at me and said “Pat you can have that record” because I could do like 295lbs with horrible form. Man when I would power clean I had no form I would just man handle it. I wouldn’t get up under it or nothing it was just man handling it up. Tracy would bring it up and get under it and do it the correct way so he was able to really get a lot of weight up, but that day he just told me I could have that record. (laughing) and I held it for about a year and then somebody came up and beat it. It was about 285lbs which is really not that much. These kids today are probably doing three hundred plus pounds today.
By the time the ninth grade rolled around we began doing other forms of weight lifting so I became exposed to different techniques. Now I was horrible at power cleans because to be honest with you I was afraid to do it because it takes some form to do that properly. Now going forward just a little bit I remember my junior year in high school Tracy Johnson was power cleaning over three hundred and some odd pounds and the day we tested he looked over at me and said “Pat you can have that record” because I could do like 295lbs with horrible form. Man when I would power clean I had no form I would just man handle it. I wouldn’t get up under it or nothing it was just man handling it up. Tracy would bring it up and get under it and do it the correct way so he was able to really get a lot of weight up, but that day he just told me I could have that record. (laughing) and I held it for about a year and then somebody came up and beat it. It was about 285lbs which is really not that much. These kids today are probably doing three hundred plus pounds today, but what I could do was dead lift and bench press. I got 625lbs on dead lift which I have no clue how I did that because I have these little ol legs (laughing) and I got to 475lbs on bench press.
Now I have to tell ya, I got that record on bench press almost as a dare. Football was over and I believe we were in wrestling season, but everybody was still lifting and this particular time Boswell came in the room and just came over and said “I bet you can’t get 500lbs” Now everyday I would go in and lift and I would just lift normal as everybody else did, but then one day a week I would go in there and I would put 500lbs or 510lbs on the bar and just do negatives just to get use to the weight. I would have three spotters one on each side and one in the middle and I would do negatives and they would help me get it back up. To me I didn’t think it would be that difficult cause you only got to do it once. (laughing) So I just put 500lbs on the bar and just pushed it up and that was it. I had the record then. I didn’t want one of those t-shirts they gave out I wanted one of those nice coaches jackets. So they got me a jacket and put 500 club on it and that was it. I wish I still had that jacket though it was really nice, but I got up to Appalachian State and somebody stole it. (laughing)
(FIK) Did you experience much in the way of transition going from the middle school to high school?
(PM) This was another situation you probably don’t know, but when I got into my eighth grade year I would play with the middle school, but I practiced with the high school. (laughing) Yea, I would play with the middle school because I believe we had our games on Wednesday, but I would practice with the high school. I would have to walk that little big hill behind the middle school to go over to the high school to practice. I know coach Graham had some issues with all of this and I understand where he was coming from, but none of this was my doing. I was only doing what they told me to do. It was probably one of the worst things that could have happened to me. (laughing) Now understand, I’m playing with the middle school, but practicing with the varsity. The varsity would make the playoffs and the Jvs would stop playing, but they would have me still practicing with the varsity. (laughing)
I remember this one instance at practice one day and I’ll never forget it. I was lined up on the line and I was reading the tackle like I was suppose to do and Greg Bost got the ball and came up on me and I’ll tell you what, I still carry the pinched nerve I got from that hit. (laughing) That kid ran slap over me and to this day I have never been hit as hard as I got hit that day including college. (laughing) Here I am an eighth grader getting run over by Greg Bost. Something just didn’t seem right about that. (laughing) Now as a reward for doing this I got to eat steak dinners with the varsity team and I was became coach Jacob’s cable guy. You know the guy that would hold on to the headphone cable on the sidelines for the coaches, well I did that for coach Jacobs. (laughing)
(FIK) Did coach Boswell or any of the other coaches from the high school ever have conversations with you during this time?
(PM) No not really. Coach Graham and Coach Fowler took all their orders from up top and I just did what I was told to do. I never really saw coach Boswell until I got over to the high school my freshman year. Coach Boswell had this aura he carried about himself. He was like the living legend and you didn’t talk to him until he talked to you. He might tell you something like good job or something informal like that, but he didn’t just have meaningless conversation with you. (laughing) But all those other coaches got their orders directly from coach Boswell. Everyone knew who was in control of that program back then and there was no mistaking it. Boswell was big on the weights. He wanted you to be a strong as you could be and all the football players had to lift. There was no getting around that, you were gonna lift or you didn’t come out.
We had coach Whightman back then too and he was big into that body building stuff. Coach Whightman was a great guy and he helped me a lot in those early days. Coach Whightman had all of our routines planned out and he knew what would benefit us. I have a lot of respect for coach Whightman.
(FIK) At what point during the 1984 season did you first realize that this would be a special group?
(PM) You know I just felt so honored to be on a team as talented as that team was and to be just a freshman lineman. I really didn’t think anybody could beat us. We were kind of cocky to be honest with you. (laughing) We knew we had great potential From day one and I didn’t think anyone would challenge us. You know outside our big rivalry games with South Rowan and Concord nobody really threatened us that entire year. It was just a very special group of guys and you don’t always have that, but we did that year and it was hard to lose to Tarboro that way. I remember later feeling so bad because I wondered if I had played as well as I could have, but you always tend to second guess you’re self from time to time like everybody does, but that was a special group in 1984. I will always have fond memories of that season.
(FIK) What was one of your most memorable games of that 1984 regular season?
(PM) Man, it would have to be our overtime victory over South Rowan. You know that game was probably more heated than our game was with Concord. I had never been so nervous in my entire life playing football as I was for that game. Those guys from South Rowan were the real deal back then. You knew going into that game that it was going to be a dog fight and there was no room for errors of any kind. I just remember being so nervous that I would actually throw up before the game. (laughing) I don’t know how, when, or where, but sometime before that game Pat Moore is throwing up. (laughing) I can recall being very intimidated by the number a fans that were out there for that game. South Rowan traveled well and they brought as many fans with them as we had on our side. I remember getting booed the likes I had never heard before that game and even though our fans were cheering it was almost like the sounds of those boos stood out amongst everything else. (laughing) I remember at some point I had to stop eating the pre game meal because I was constantly throwing up. The rest of the team would eat the steak dinners and somebody else would go to Mcdonalds and get me something like a fish sandwich and some French fries, but that was it. That happened for both the South and the Concord games.
I remember how tough that game was. It was like two heavyweight prize fighters going blow for blow and you didn’t know who was going to fall. I remember when we got into overtime I felt like we could push the ball down their throats from ten yards out no problem and I think it was Tracy Johnson who scored the winning touchdown from about two yards out or something like that. I remember going in on defense for that last round in overtime. We all knew this was our season right here if we didn’t get through this. I remember they tried a couple of running plays and then their last two were pass plays. James Lott broke up that last pass play on fourth down and we won. We were so happy to get out of there with a win I can’t describe it. Now that next year we went back over to South and let me tell you I had never been so scared in my life. When we got there some of their fans were throwing rocks and bottles at the bus. We didn’t know what was going on, but we were scared to come off the bus. That game ended up being more of a thriller than the one in 1984 if you can believe that. I believe we went three overtimes in that one. I remember it being a real defensive struggle throughout. I think their quarterback fumbled the snap on the last play of the third overtime which gave us the win, but that’s how games were between us and South back then. I think that has died off lately with Kannapolis pretty much a given to win that game now, but back then it was anybody’s game.
(FIK) Take me through a typical day for an athlete playing in the South and Concord games.
(PM) Well, you know you would have that big pep rally, and I’m gonna be honest with you on those days they might as well have cancelled school because you would have that big pep rally and everybody would get themselves so worked up you couldn’t concentrate in school. (laughing) You know sometimes a pep rally can be a bad thing because you get so worked up during it that you have to channel that energy somehow before the game. I mean after that pep rally we were jumping up and down, bumping fists and high fiving almost ready to fight and afterwards you had that emotional letdown of having to go back to class. So that can be a bad thing if you let it take your emotional edge off before the game. You want to peak right before you go out on that field not at 10:00am or in the middle of the school day. (laughing) I remember my freshman year James Lott gave this inspirational speech at the pep rally and we were ready to go then. (laughing)
I also remember for both those games you would have a cheerleader or a school organization that would shadow just you throughout the week and you never knew who it was, but they would decorated your locker and bring you cookies and cakes and things like that for the athletes. I remember the pressure was unreal because you know yourself you could lose every game of the year up to that point, but don’t lose to South Rowan or Concord. That would destroy your season in just two games. That’s pressure for a young kid you know. We wouldn’t do much that day of the game. We would go to position meetings and then lay down till time to start getting dressed out. The focus level was something you can’t describe like I said before those two games are the throw up games, because at some point it’s gonna happen. (laughing) I had to forego those steak dinners. (laughing) You know they don’t do that in college for that very reason. In college they will get you something like a piece of dried up chicken and some salad, but nothing heavy. I’ll be honest I didn’t get that nervous playing at App State as I did for the South Rowan and Concord games. Back then our big rivalry game was usually Marshall until they moved into that new conference, but even that game paled in comparison to South and Concord.
It was a new level of excitement and nervousness for those two games because there is for the most part so much riding on it. That hasn’t changed for the most part. Like I said I don’t think it is as bad with South today as it was in my day because we usually win that game, but back then that was all there was in the world during that week. I remember the day of the games the nervousness would hit around three o’clock and then we distanced ourselves from everybody. We would eat then we would find our own little private corner and lay down and take a nap, then we would get up and maybe watch some film until the coaches brought us together to dress out, but you could lay there and visualize yourself dominating good people. You think about imposing your will on someone else and for me that was a big part of getting ready for a big game and that was to be better than the man I was playing against.
(FIK) Would you attribute that nervousness to what was at stake in those games or something else?
(PM) It was the pressure of playing football in Kannapolis. You know I grew up in Fisher Town and from the time football season ended till the time it started again that was all people talked about beating South Rowan and Concord. Even when we went back into the 4A that’s all people talked about was those two games.
(FIK) How important was film study to you during high school?
(PM) If there was one thing I did do a lot during my high school career it was film study. Film study is the best thing in the world. I would do a lot of film study the day of the game because they would let you go in there and do it. It’s probably one of the most important aspects of game preparation is to study as much film as you can to see what your opponents tendencies are and what you might can do personally to exploit your man’s weaknesses during the game. Looking back for me if I missed out on anything where my game was concerned in high school was technique. I basically just bull rushed my way through all that I did on the field in high school. When I went off to App State they taught us how to play with your hands and make reads and stuff like that and don’t get up field. I did a lot better for myself after learning some technique. My focus then became not just what was going on back here, but rather what was going on in front of me. I learned quickly as a lineman if you watch that guy in front of you more times than not he is going to lead you to the ball every time. If you have control of the A gap and it doesn’t matter whether or not the gap is this wide or that wide if you watch your man he is going to take you to the play. I missed out on that in high school.
Actually in both high school and college we played about the same style of defense which was linebacker base. You keep your man off the linebacker because if he’s going into the gap he’s probably going after the linebacker so you had to be a little bit unselfish and knock him into the hole because you don’t want him getting to the linebacker. Our defense was set up for the linebacker to make the plays in college.
(FIK) Did you notice a big difference in the amount of athleticism in the 4A as oppose to 3A?
(PM) To be quite honest with you it was all about who you played. I remember going up to Davie County in 1985 and it was a good game, but my guy wasn’t necessarily all that good, but then we go to Northwest and South Rowan in 1984 and they were bulls. We fought the entire game. I remember we went up to Winston Salem Reynolds one year and I was playing offense opposite a guy that weighed in about three hundred pounds and just being honest I couldn’t move him. (laughing) I couldn’t move him so he started talking some trash and finally I had to adjust my game plan for this guy. I knew there was no way I was going to move him out of the hole so from the second quarter till the end of the game I just shifted my body position and he rode my hip the entire game. (laughing)
(FIK) To be a successful offensive and defensive lineman in what area did you feel the need to excel”
(PM) Now this is just me talking, but upper body strength is in my opinion the most important area of your game. On offense and defense it has everything to do with controlling that man in front of you. That is what saved me in college because I was always undersized going in to a game. I would report in at 280lbs, but by the time the first game rolled around I was coming in at maybe 260 or 265 because I would lose that weight just from working out so hard. I had to rely on nothing but brute strength and it was all about upper body for me.
(PM) This was another situation you probably don’t know, but when I got into my eighth grade year I would play with the middle school, but I practiced with the high school. (laughing) Yea, I would play with the middle school because I believe we had our games on Wednesday, but I would practice with the high school. I would have to walk that little big hill behind the middle school to go over to the high school to practice. I know coach Graham had some issues with all of this and I understand where he was coming from, but none of this was my doing. I was only doing what they told me to do. It was probably one of the worst things that could have happened to me. (laughing) Now understand, I’m playing with the middle school, but practicing with the varsity. The varsity would make the playoffs and the Jvs would stop playing, but they would have me still practicing with the varsity. (laughing)
I remember this one instance at practice one day and I’ll never forget it. I was lined up on the line and I was reading the tackle like I was suppose to do and Greg Bost got the ball and came up on me and I’ll tell you what, I still carry the pinched nerve I got from that hit. (laughing) That kid ran slap over me and to this day I have never been hit as hard as I got hit that day including college. (laughing) Here I am an eighth grader getting run over by Greg Bost. Something just didn’t seem right about that. (laughing) Now as a reward for doing this I got to eat steak dinners with the varsity team and I was became coach Jacob’s cable guy. You know the guy that would hold on to the headphone cable on the sidelines for the coaches, well I did that for coach Jacobs. (laughing)
(FIK) Did coach Boswell or any of the other coaches from the high school ever have conversations with you during this time?
(PM) No not really. Coach Graham and Coach Fowler took all their orders from up top and I just did what I was told to do. I never really saw coach Boswell until I got over to the high school my freshman year. Coach Boswell had this aura he carried about himself. He was like the living legend and you didn’t talk to him until he talked to you. He might tell you something like good job or something informal like that, but he didn’t just have meaningless conversation with you. (laughing) But all those other coaches got their orders directly from coach Boswell. Everyone knew who was in control of that program back then and there was no mistaking it. Boswell was big on the weights. He wanted you to be a strong as you could be and all the football players had to lift. There was no getting around that, you were gonna lift or you didn’t come out.
We had coach Whightman back then too and he was big into that body building stuff. Coach Whightman was a great guy and he helped me a lot in those early days. Coach Whightman had all of our routines planned out and he knew what would benefit us. I have a lot of respect for coach Whightman.
(FIK) At what point during the 1984 season did you first realize that this would be a special group?
(PM) You know I just felt so honored to be on a team as talented as that team was and to be just a freshman lineman. I really didn’t think anybody could beat us. We were kind of cocky to be honest with you. (laughing) We knew we had great potential From day one and I didn’t think anyone would challenge us. You know outside our big rivalry games with South Rowan and Concord nobody really threatened us that entire year. It was just a very special group of guys and you don’t always have that, but we did that year and it was hard to lose to Tarboro that way. I remember later feeling so bad because I wondered if I had played as well as I could have, but you always tend to second guess you’re self from time to time like everybody does, but that was a special group in 1984. I will always have fond memories of that season.
(FIK) What was one of your most memorable games of that 1984 regular season?
(PM) Man, it would have to be our overtime victory over South Rowan. You know that game was probably more heated than our game was with Concord. I had never been so nervous in my entire life playing football as I was for that game. Those guys from South Rowan were the real deal back then. You knew going into that game that it was going to be a dog fight and there was no room for errors of any kind. I just remember being so nervous that I would actually throw up before the game. (laughing) I don’t know how, when, or where, but sometime before that game Pat Moore is throwing up. (laughing) I can recall being very intimidated by the number a fans that were out there for that game. South Rowan traveled well and they brought as many fans with them as we had on our side. I remember getting booed the likes I had never heard before that game and even though our fans were cheering it was almost like the sounds of those boos stood out amongst everything else. (laughing) I remember at some point I had to stop eating the pre game meal because I was constantly throwing up. The rest of the team would eat the steak dinners and somebody else would go to Mcdonalds and get me something like a fish sandwich and some French fries, but that was it. That happened for both the South and the Concord games.
I remember how tough that game was. It was like two heavyweight prize fighters going blow for blow and you didn’t know who was going to fall. I remember when we got into overtime I felt like we could push the ball down their throats from ten yards out no problem and I think it was Tracy Johnson who scored the winning touchdown from about two yards out or something like that. I remember going in on defense for that last round in overtime. We all knew this was our season right here if we didn’t get through this. I remember they tried a couple of running plays and then their last two were pass plays. James Lott broke up that last pass play on fourth down and we won. We were so happy to get out of there with a win I can’t describe it. Now that next year we went back over to South and let me tell you I had never been so scared in my life. When we got there some of their fans were throwing rocks and bottles at the bus. We didn’t know what was going on, but we were scared to come off the bus. That game ended up being more of a thriller than the one in 1984 if you can believe that. I believe we went three overtimes in that one. I remember it being a real defensive struggle throughout. I think their quarterback fumbled the snap on the last play of the third overtime which gave us the win, but that’s how games were between us and South back then. I think that has died off lately with Kannapolis pretty much a given to win that game now, but back then it was anybody’s game.
(FIK) Take me through a typical day for an athlete playing in the South and Concord games.
(PM) Well, you know you would have that big pep rally, and I’m gonna be honest with you on those days they might as well have cancelled school because you would have that big pep rally and everybody would get themselves so worked up you couldn’t concentrate in school. (laughing) You know sometimes a pep rally can be a bad thing because you get so worked up during it that you have to channel that energy somehow before the game. I mean after that pep rally we were jumping up and down, bumping fists and high fiving almost ready to fight and afterwards you had that emotional letdown of having to go back to class. So that can be a bad thing if you let it take your emotional edge off before the game. You want to peak right before you go out on that field not at 10:00am or in the middle of the school day. (laughing) I remember my freshman year James Lott gave this inspirational speech at the pep rally and we were ready to go then. (laughing)
I also remember for both those games you would have a cheerleader or a school organization that would shadow just you throughout the week and you never knew who it was, but they would decorated your locker and bring you cookies and cakes and things like that for the athletes. I remember the pressure was unreal because you know yourself you could lose every game of the year up to that point, but don’t lose to South Rowan or Concord. That would destroy your season in just two games. That’s pressure for a young kid you know. We wouldn’t do much that day of the game. We would go to position meetings and then lay down till time to start getting dressed out. The focus level was something you can’t describe like I said before those two games are the throw up games, because at some point it’s gonna happen. (laughing) I had to forego those steak dinners. (laughing) You know they don’t do that in college for that very reason. In college they will get you something like a piece of dried up chicken and some salad, but nothing heavy. I’ll be honest I didn’t get that nervous playing at App State as I did for the South Rowan and Concord games. Back then our big rivalry game was usually Marshall until they moved into that new conference, but even that game paled in comparison to South and Concord.
It was a new level of excitement and nervousness for those two games because there is for the most part so much riding on it. That hasn’t changed for the most part. Like I said I don’t think it is as bad with South today as it was in my day because we usually win that game, but back then that was all there was in the world during that week. I remember the day of the games the nervousness would hit around three o’clock and then we distanced ourselves from everybody. We would eat then we would find our own little private corner and lay down and take a nap, then we would get up and maybe watch some film until the coaches brought us together to dress out, but you could lay there and visualize yourself dominating good people. You think about imposing your will on someone else and for me that was a big part of getting ready for a big game and that was to be better than the man I was playing against.
(FIK) Would you attribute that nervousness to what was at stake in those games or something else?
(PM) It was the pressure of playing football in Kannapolis. You know I grew up in Fisher Town and from the time football season ended till the time it started again that was all people talked about beating South Rowan and Concord. Even when we went back into the 4A that’s all people talked about was those two games.
(FIK) How important was film study to you during high school?
(PM) If there was one thing I did do a lot during my high school career it was film study. Film study is the best thing in the world. I would do a lot of film study the day of the game because they would let you go in there and do it. It’s probably one of the most important aspects of game preparation is to study as much film as you can to see what your opponents tendencies are and what you might can do personally to exploit your man’s weaknesses during the game. Looking back for me if I missed out on anything where my game was concerned in high school was technique. I basically just bull rushed my way through all that I did on the field in high school. When I went off to App State they taught us how to play with your hands and make reads and stuff like that and don’t get up field. I did a lot better for myself after learning some technique. My focus then became not just what was going on back here, but rather what was going on in front of me. I learned quickly as a lineman if you watch that guy in front of you more times than not he is going to lead you to the ball every time. If you have control of the A gap and it doesn’t matter whether or not the gap is this wide or that wide if you watch your man he is going to take you to the play. I missed out on that in high school.
Actually in both high school and college we played about the same style of defense which was linebacker base. You keep your man off the linebacker because if he’s going into the gap he’s probably going after the linebacker so you had to be a little bit unselfish and knock him into the hole because you don’t want him getting to the linebacker. Our defense was set up for the linebacker to make the plays in college.
(FIK) Did you notice a big difference in the amount of athleticism in the 4A as oppose to 3A?
(PM) To be quite honest with you it was all about who you played. I remember going up to Davie County in 1985 and it was a good game, but my guy wasn’t necessarily all that good, but then we go to Northwest and South Rowan in 1984 and they were bulls. We fought the entire game. I remember we went up to Winston Salem Reynolds one year and I was playing offense opposite a guy that weighed in about three hundred pounds and just being honest I couldn’t move him. (laughing) I couldn’t move him so he started talking some trash and finally I had to adjust my game plan for this guy. I knew there was no way I was going to move him out of the hole so from the second quarter till the end of the game I just shifted my body position and he rode my hip the entire game. (laughing)
(FIK) To be a successful offensive and defensive lineman in what area did you feel the need to excel”
(PM) Now this is just me talking, but upper body strength is in my opinion the most important area of your game. On offense and defense it has everything to do with controlling that man in front of you. That is what saved me in college because I was always undersized going in to a game. I would report in at 280lbs, but by the time the first game rolled around I was coming in at maybe 260 or 265 because I would lose that weight just from working out so hard. I had to rely on nothing but brute strength and it was all about upper body for me.
(FIK) Your senior year you were put as the feature athlete on the school calendar. How did this come to pass?
(PM) That was coach Boswell’s idea and I absolutely knew nothing about it. They pulled me out of class one day and one of the graphic arts students just started taking pictures of me. I had no idea what they were going to do with the pictures. When the calendar came out I was kind of embarrassed at first, but then I thought it was a special honor for them to think that much of me to put me on the calendar by myself.
(FIK) Being a state champion wrestler how much did wrestling play in your football?
(PM) I started wrestling when I was in the seventh grade and I wasn’t all that good in the seventh grade. I didn’t really start coming into my own until I got into high school right around my freshman year. My freshman year I made it to the sectionals, my sophomore and junior years I made it to the regional, and then finally my senior year I went all the way to the state and won. As far as it helping my football absolutely. What you have to understand and it goes more for heavyweights than it does everybody else is that like football it’s all about controlling your man and using you upper body to do it. Now for the lighter weight classifications it’s all about speed and agility to overcome your man. So wrestling did a lot for my preparation for football. I wish wrestling would have come before football season because I really would have been hard to handle then. Wrestling is all about being better than that man in front of you. I guess it may be sort of a machismo type thing, but there was certain satisfaction about beating someone one on one and knowing at the end you either out muscled him or outlasted him.
(FIK) Who did you defeat to become the 4A state wrestling champion in 1987?
(PM) Derek Fewell from Ashbrook, and this guy ended up being my rommmate at Appalachian State. (laughing) Now this guy beat me in the regional finals that year. Now in the regional finals I was whipping this guy like I owned him and I get disqualified for stalling. I’m beating Derek something like 8-0 and honestly the match was going so good I didn’t see a pin happening, but I did have a few shots at pinning him and it just didn’t work out. So I was racking up points the longer this thing went on, now he was wearing this loose fitting singlet and I grabbed it and the referee called me for stalling. By the next time we both got called for stalling because we were tired and we were doing that heavyweight dance like you do when you’re tired. I’m still winning by about four points with about thirty seconds left in the match and I grab his singlet again. They disqualified me and gave it to him.
Now we get to the state finals about a week or two later and I’m paired up with this guy again and I was so mad from the last time that there was no way I was going to let this happen again. My sole purpose was to go out there and destroy this guy. I don’t know why I was so mad at him because he didn’t do it the first time the referee did, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t even watch any of the other matches leading up to mine. I sat in the back just boiling and building myself up to put a first class whipping on this guy. I went out there and I pinned that guy in fifty eight seconds. It wasn’t anything but anger from the last match. I ran up to him to tackle him and put a bear hug on him and took him to the ground next thing I know after he stopped squirming around I had him pinned. (laughing) I told my daddy that year that if I lost any matches it wouldn’t be by a pin, but rather a disqualification. Both of my losses that year were by disqualification.
(FIK) Which of the two sports you participate in do you think was the most challenging?
(PM) Wrestling without a doubt. Wrestling is like a gladiator sport it’s all about who is the better man. Even if you’re tired and you don’t feel like doing it anymore your pride kicks in and you say to yourself “I just can’t see this guy beating me” and that’s how I approached all my matches except with Derek Fewell. It had nothing to do with anything other than I’m so mad about what happened last week that there was no other alternative but to destroy him and dang if he didn’t become my roommate in college. (laughing)
(FIK) What did you consider to be your strengths wrestling?
(PM) Takedowns. Now I didn’t wrestle in college, but I use to go over there and I guess what you would call spar with some of those guys just doing take downs. I wouldn’t get in to an actual wrestling match with them I would just do take downs. There was this one guy who was up there wrestling and I was just wearing him out on take downs and I could tell he was getting mad because his coach was sitting over there watching him get his tail whipped, so he finally said why don’t we just do an entire match. (laughing) In my wrestling career I probably ninety percent of the time pinned my opponent with just an overhead and hook. From standing to take down and that was pretty much it. To answer your question about wrestling and football I really wish wrestling would have come before football season because it gets you in such better shape what with the cardio and strength and conditioning. I think it was probably the single most important thing I did to enhance my physical capabilities in the off season. I really would like to see them bring back the old county fairs because it does so much to enhance your cardio and endurance. I don’t know if they do anything like that now.
(PM) That was coach Boswell’s idea and I absolutely knew nothing about it. They pulled me out of class one day and one of the graphic arts students just started taking pictures of me. I had no idea what they were going to do with the pictures. When the calendar came out I was kind of embarrassed at first, but then I thought it was a special honor for them to think that much of me to put me on the calendar by myself.
(FIK) Being a state champion wrestler how much did wrestling play in your football?
(PM) I started wrestling when I was in the seventh grade and I wasn’t all that good in the seventh grade. I didn’t really start coming into my own until I got into high school right around my freshman year. My freshman year I made it to the sectionals, my sophomore and junior years I made it to the regional, and then finally my senior year I went all the way to the state and won. As far as it helping my football absolutely. What you have to understand and it goes more for heavyweights than it does everybody else is that like football it’s all about controlling your man and using you upper body to do it. Now for the lighter weight classifications it’s all about speed and agility to overcome your man. So wrestling did a lot for my preparation for football. I wish wrestling would have come before football season because I really would have been hard to handle then. Wrestling is all about being better than that man in front of you. I guess it may be sort of a machismo type thing, but there was certain satisfaction about beating someone one on one and knowing at the end you either out muscled him or outlasted him.
(FIK) Who did you defeat to become the 4A state wrestling champion in 1987?
(PM) Derek Fewell from Ashbrook, and this guy ended up being my rommmate at Appalachian State. (laughing) Now this guy beat me in the regional finals that year. Now in the regional finals I was whipping this guy like I owned him and I get disqualified for stalling. I’m beating Derek something like 8-0 and honestly the match was going so good I didn’t see a pin happening, but I did have a few shots at pinning him and it just didn’t work out. So I was racking up points the longer this thing went on, now he was wearing this loose fitting singlet and I grabbed it and the referee called me for stalling. By the next time we both got called for stalling because we were tired and we were doing that heavyweight dance like you do when you’re tired. I’m still winning by about four points with about thirty seconds left in the match and I grab his singlet again. They disqualified me and gave it to him.
Now we get to the state finals about a week or two later and I’m paired up with this guy again and I was so mad from the last time that there was no way I was going to let this happen again. My sole purpose was to go out there and destroy this guy. I don’t know why I was so mad at him because he didn’t do it the first time the referee did, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t even watch any of the other matches leading up to mine. I sat in the back just boiling and building myself up to put a first class whipping on this guy. I went out there and I pinned that guy in fifty eight seconds. It wasn’t anything but anger from the last match. I ran up to him to tackle him and put a bear hug on him and took him to the ground next thing I know after he stopped squirming around I had him pinned. (laughing) I told my daddy that year that if I lost any matches it wouldn’t be by a pin, but rather a disqualification. Both of my losses that year were by disqualification.
(FIK) Which of the two sports you participate in do you think was the most challenging?
(PM) Wrestling without a doubt. Wrestling is like a gladiator sport it’s all about who is the better man. Even if you’re tired and you don’t feel like doing it anymore your pride kicks in and you say to yourself “I just can’t see this guy beating me” and that’s how I approached all my matches except with Derek Fewell. It had nothing to do with anything other than I’m so mad about what happened last week that there was no other alternative but to destroy him and dang if he didn’t become my roommate in college. (laughing)
(FIK) What did you consider to be your strengths wrestling?
(PM) Takedowns. Now I didn’t wrestle in college, but I use to go over there and I guess what you would call spar with some of those guys just doing take downs. I wouldn’t get in to an actual wrestling match with them I would just do take downs. There was this one guy who was up there wrestling and I was just wearing him out on take downs and I could tell he was getting mad because his coach was sitting over there watching him get his tail whipped, so he finally said why don’t we just do an entire match. (laughing) In my wrestling career I probably ninety percent of the time pinned my opponent with just an overhead and hook. From standing to take down and that was pretty much it. To answer your question about wrestling and football I really wish wrestling would have come before football season because it gets you in such better shape what with the cardio and strength and conditioning. I think it was probably the single most important thing I did to enhance my physical capabilities in the off season. I really would like to see them bring back the old county fairs because it does so much to enhance your cardio and endurance. I don’t know if they do anything like that now.
(FIK) Looking back who do you remember being your toughest opponent to play?
(PM) Hands down Greensboro Page. Those guys were just so fast and so athletic and that’s not taking anything away from Tarboro, but these guys were just on another level. It was all speed. It was the first time I realized speed was everything. Page had so many athletes on that 1985 team that could run and that was on the defensive side of the ball too. For me it was like playing a college team. I think they ended up beating us by thirty some odd points that year. To give you a comparison the year we went back to the state championship in 2008 against Dudley I was on my way to the game when my car broke down so I didn’t get to make the game. I called a friend of mine who was at the game after the game was over and he said “Pat it was like the high school team playing a middle school team they were that good”
Now this is going to sound bad, but I have to tell ya one of my most memorable games was playing against Northwest Cabarrus my senior year. I’m playing against some guy and I was just curious as to how much physical damage I could do to this one guy in a single game. (laughing) I went into the locker room and got me a forearm pad and by the time that game was over I had split this guys chin with nothing but forearms. (laughing) I’m just forearming him to death for the entire game. That’s was the only game in my life that I actually felt bad after the game was over. (laughing) I wasn’t mad about nothing I was just curious as to how much pain I could inflict on this one person. I know that sounds terrible. (laughing)
I got that forearm move from Ken Hill. I’ll pass a little of the blame to Ken. (laughing) Ken Hill was the master of the forearm. He even told me one day when I was practicing with the varsity while I was in the eighth grade he said “Moore you gonna have a rough day today” I’m thinking what is this guy talking about cause I’m on the dummy squad you know so why is he telling me something like that? I found out later on that he was coming after me personally. He gave me forearm after forearm the entire practice until he split my chin open. After practice we are all walking off the field and Ken comes up to me and said “I told you that you were gonna have a rough day today” I remembered that too. (laughing) He knew me from over in Fishertown, but I guess he just wanted to make a point with me. (laughing)
(FIK) Do you think you had a reputation that intimidated opposing players?
(PM) I think I did and this is why and I owe it all to Bob Jacobs. Now this only happened one time during my entire high school career and I told coach Jacobs it would never happen again. We were in practice one day my freshman year and the coaches said we were going to go half speed today and not to get too carried away. Well this one guy blocked me a certain way that I should have been prepared for and after it happened coach Jacobs grabbed me and cussed me out for everything I was worth. (laughing) I couldn’t understand why he was being so hard on me so I said “coach you said go half speed” Coach Jacobs continued to cuss me out worse than I’ve ever been cussed out before in my life. I looked at coach Jacobs after he finished and I told him that would never happen again. I would never get cussed out for going half speed anymore. So after that half speed meant nothing to me. I stopped going half speed for anything. I went to every practice with one thing in mind and that was to win because I didn’t want to get cussed out again.
I think after my junior year was when people really started to get to know me from other teams because most of them had been playing against me for two years and knew what I was about. So I guess it was after coach Jacobs cussed me out that from that point on it was going to be “Scott you’re gonna have a rough day today” (laughing) Seriously, If I told someone at practice that they were going to have a rough day then I was looking for that person particularly to make him suffer for being out there. (laughing) It was all about getting that one good hit on somebody whether it was in practice or in a game. So just like Ken Hill told me If I tell you you are gonna have a rough day today then I am looking for you the entire time. If you are on kick off then I’m looking to get that hit on you. You might not even be part of the play, but you are going to get hit because I told you it was going to happen.
(FIK) How honored were you to have been selected to the Shrine Bowl in 1987?
(PM) It was a great honor just to be considered. Me and Lester Smith both attended that year and that was actually the first experience I had to see what life was going to be like in college. Those South Carolina players were very good and though we ended up losing the game I felt like I had given a good showing for myself and for the North Carolina team. It was a privilege especially seeing those kids in the Shriner’s hospital.
(FIK) How was you college recruiting experience?
(PM) It was stressful, but coach Boswell did so much to make that happen for me I can’t begin to thank him enough. Coach Boswell was connected back then and probably still is today. Me and Lester Smith both started being recruited heavily by Clemson and we would go to most of Clemson’s home games our senior year. I went to six of those games personally. Recruiting is a study and it’s a work in progress. If you ever get to talk to someone about being recruited the first thing you need to tell them is to find out starting their junior year is how many seniors there are on the team that is recruiting you. What happened to me and Lester was we didn’t know how the system worked. Me and Lester would go to Danny Ford’s house for parties and cookouts and recruiting visits and there would always be this big kid standing around in shorts and flip flops and I wondered who he was. He was about 6’4 or 6’5 about 300lbs and real confident kid too. I never talked to him though and I probably should have just to find out who he was. It was Chester Mcglockton who ended up playing pro football for so long back in the nineties. Well, he was being recruited at the same time me and Lester were.
Now I didn’t find this out until I got to App State, but each year the NCAA has a certain number of scholarships they are going to give out to each school. That year Clemson had on their board the top three people they were recruiting and it was Chester Mcglockton, another guy, and me. They were the top three. They got their first two people and I didn‘t get a scholarship. That’s what most of these young kids don’t know. It’s hard to find out who is in front of you so you have to ask questions and be persistent in your requests or you won’t know. You need to know how many people are being recruited for your position and what year is he. If he is like a super freshman like Tim Tebow or Emmitt Smith then you probably don’t want to go to that school because you are probably going to be sitting out a year or two.
I owe everything to Bob Boswell for getting me into school, but I can tell you I was there when he talked to Danny Ford over the phone after they passed me by and Boswell lit into coach Ford for everything he was worth. I’ve never heard a man go off on another so hard like Boswell did with coach Ford. Then when the Appalachian coaches came down I was there in the room with coach Boswell then as well. He looked at their recruiting coaches and he told them “There is not niether one of my players coming up there for a visit if you don’t offer them a scholarship first” My jaw about dropped. I think it really hurt Boswell that we had been overlooked by coach Ford and he was intent on getting me and Lester into school. Recruiting is a business now and it is cut throat and you can pretty much bet if they get their first two choices the third is out which is what happened to me.
(FIK) Was it a big transition going from high school to college for you?
(PM) Man I’m telling you what. When you go to college to play football you are fighting for your position everyday of the week. There are so many things you are worried about in keeping your starting position. Am I going to get injured, Who is coming in behind me, Who is the super freshman. It’s a stressful time if you’re not use to that and it can take away a lot of the fun for you. I didn’t start my freshman year I was playing behind a guy named Chris Connors and my junior year I started off playing behind Chris Connors until he got mad after practice one day and put his hand through one of those glass windows with the wire in it. The coaches got mad about that and then I started from that point on. He was a pre season All American too. It’s just a different feeling in college than it is in high school. You just have to prepare yourself for whatever comes your way. If you tell anything about college let people know that college football is a job. (laughing) It's a job there's no other way to look at it. You have to stay on top of things or you will get lost in the shuffle.
(FIK) Do you have any regrets about any of your experiences playing ball?
(PM) Not a thing. Football did a lot for me. Playing in Kannapolis was a big part of that because I had the opportunity to play with some great athletes that made it possible for somebody like me to shine. I got to play for some great coaches who had a big impact on who I am today and I wouldn’t trade any of those experiences for anything except maybe beating Tarboro for that state championship. (laughing)
(FIK) Was there any one coach or player that you can say had a big impact on your life today?
(PM) Bob Jacobs. Coach Jacobs was tough and could chew you out if it called for it, but coach Jacobs in my eyes made you feel like he cared about you. I’ll go back to the cussing out I got for going half speed in practice that day. Coach Jacobs was teaching me a lesson. It was a lesson I could carry on through life. I knew that day if I went half speed at anything then somebody could beat me and may not be somebody that was as good as I was. I remember coach Jacobs loved to shag because he would cut a move on the field sometimes, but he was always looking out for you and wanting you to be better than you thought you could be.
(PM) Hands down Greensboro Page. Those guys were just so fast and so athletic and that’s not taking anything away from Tarboro, but these guys were just on another level. It was all speed. It was the first time I realized speed was everything. Page had so many athletes on that 1985 team that could run and that was on the defensive side of the ball too. For me it was like playing a college team. I think they ended up beating us by thirty some odd points that year. To give you a comparison the year we went back to the state championship in 2008 against Dudley I was on my way to the game when my car broke down so I didn’t get to make the game. I called a friend of mine who was at the game after the game was over and he said “Pat it was like the high school team playing a middle school team they were that good”
Now this is going to sound bad, but I have to tell ya one of my most memorable games was playing against Northwest Cabarrus my senior year. I’m playing against some guy and I was just curious as to how much physical damage I could do to this one guy in a single game. (laughing) I went into the locker room and got me a forearm pad and by the time that game was over I had split this guys chin with nothing but forearms. (laughing) I’m just forearming him to death for the entire game. That’s was the only game in my life that I actually felt bad after the game was over. (laughing) I wasn’t mad about nothing I was just curious as to how much pain I could inflict on this one person. I know that sounds terrible. (laughing)
I got that forearm move from Ken Hill. I’ll pass a little of the blame to Ken. (laughing) Ken Hill was the master of the forearm. He even told me one day when I was practicing with the varsity while I was in the eighth grade he said “Moore you gonna have a rough day today” I’m thinking what is this guy talking about cause I’m on the dummy squad you know so why is he telling me something like that? I found out later on that he was coming after me personally. He gave me forearm after forearm the entire practice until he split my chin open. After practice we are all walking off the field and Ken comes up to me and said “I told you that you were gonna have a rough day today” I remembered that too. (laughing) He knew me from over in Fishertown, but I guess he just wanted to make a point with me. (laughing)
(FIK) Do you think you had a reputation that intimidated opposing players?
(PM) I think I did and this is why and I owe it all to Bob Jacobs. Now this only happened one time during my entire high school career and I told coach Jacobs it would never happen again. We were in practice one day my freshman year and the coaches said we were going to go half speed today and not to get too carried away. Well this one guy blocked me a certain way that I should have been prepared for and after it happened coach Jacobs grabbed me and cussed me out for everything I was worth. (laughing) I couldn’t understand why he was being so hard on me so I said “coach you said go half speed” Coach Jacobs continued to cuss me out worse than I’ve ever been cussed out before in my life. I looked at coach Jacobs after he finished and I told him that would never happen again. I would never get cussed out for going half speed anymore. So after that half speed meant nothing to me. I stopped going half speed for anything. I went to every practice with one thing in mind and that was to win because I didn’t want to get cussed out again.
I think after my junior year was when people really started to get to know me from other teams because most of them had been playing against me for two years and knew what I was about. So I guess it was after coach Jacobs cussed me out that from that point on it was going to be “Scott you’re gonna have a rough day today” (laughing) Seriously, If I told someone at practice that they were going to have a rough day then I was looking for that person particularly to make him suffer for being out there. (laughing) It was all about getting that one good hit on somebody whether it was in practice or in a game. So just like Ken Hill told me If I tell you you are gonna have a rough day today then I am looking for you the entire time. If you are on kick off then I’m looking to get that hit on you. You might not even be part of the play, but you are going to get hit because I told you it was going to happen.
(FIK) How honored were you to have been selected to the Shrine Bowl in 1987?
(PM) It was a great honor just to be considered. Me and Lester Smith both attended that year and that was actually the first experience I had to see what life was going to be like in college. Those South Carolina players were very good and though we ended up losing the game I felt like I had given a good showing for myself and for the North Carolina team. It was a privilege especially seeing those kids in the Shriner’s hospital.
(FIK) How was you college recruiting experience?
(PM) It was stressful, but coach Boswell did so much to make that happen for me I can’t begin to thank him enough. Coach Boswell was connected back then and probably still is today. Me and Lester Smith both started being recruited heavily by Clemson and we would go to most of Clemson’s home games our senior year. I went to six of those games personally. Recruiting is a study and it’s a work in progress. If you ever get to talk to someone about being recruited the first thing you need to tell them is to find out starting their junior year is how many seniors there are on the team that is recruiting you. What happened to me and Lester was we didn’t know how the system worked. Me and Lester would go to Danny Ford’s house for parties and cookouts and recruiting visits and there would always be this big kid standing around in shorts and flip flops and I wondered who he was. He was about 6’4 or 6’5 about 300lbs and real confident kid too. I never talked to him though and I probably should have just to find out who he was. It was Chester Mcglockton who ended up playing pro football for so long back in the nineties. Well, he was being recruited at the same time me and Lester were.
Now I didn’t find this out until I got to App State, but each year the NCAA has a certain number of scholarships they are going to give out to each school. That year Clemson had on their board the top three people they were recruiting and it was Chester Mcglockton, another guy, and me. They were the top three. They got their first two people and I didn‘t get a scholarship. That’s what most of these young kids don’t know. It’s hard to find out who is in front of you so you have to ask questions and be persistent in your requests or you won’t know. You need to know how many people are being recruited for your position and what year is he. If he is like a super freshman like Tim Tebow or Emmitt Smith then you probably don’t want to go to that school because you are probably going to be sitting out a year or two.
I owe everything to Bob Boswell for getting me into school, but I can tell you I was there when he talked to Danny Ford over the phone after they passed me by and Boswell lit into coach Ford for everything he was worth. I’ve never heard a man go off on another so hard like Boswell did with coach Ford. Then when the Appalachian coaches came down I was there in the room with coach Boswell then as well. He looked at their recruiting coaches and he told them “There is not niether one of my players coming up there for a visit if you don’t offer them a scholarship first” My jaw about dropped. I think it really hurt Boswell that we had been overlooked by coach Ford and he was intent on getting me and Lester into school. Recruiting is a business now and it is cut throat and you can pretty much bet if they get their first two choices the third is out which is what happened to me.
(FIK) Was it a big transition going from high school to college for you?
(PM) Man I’m telling you what. When you go to college to play football you are fighting for your position everyday of the week. There are so many things you are worried about in keeping your starting position. Am I going to get injured, Who is coming in behind me, Who is the super freshman. It’s a stressful time if you’re not use to that and it can take away a lot of the fun for you. I didn’t start my freshman year I was playing behind a guy named Chris Connors and my junior year I started off playing behind Chris Connors until he got mad after practice one day and put his hand through one of those glass windows with the wire in it. The coaches got mad about that and then I started from that point on. He was a pre season All American too. It’s just a different feeling in college than it is in high school. You just have to prepare yourself for whatever comes your way. If you tell anything about college let people know that college football is a job. (laughing) It's a job there's no other way to look at it. You have to stay on top of things or you will get lost in the shuffle.
(FIK) Do you have any regrets about any of your experiences playing ball?
(PM) Not a thing. Football did a lot for me. Playing in Kannapolis was a big part of that because I had the opportunity to play with some great athletes that made it possible for somebody like me to shine. I got to play for some great coaches who had a big impact on who I am today and I wouldn’t trade any of those experiences for anything except maybe beating Tarboro for that state championship. (laughing)
(FIK) Was there any one coach or player that you can say had a big impact on your life today?
(PM) Bob Jacobs. Coach Jacobs was tough and could chew you out if it called for it, but coach Jacobs in my eyes made you feel like he cared about you. I’ll go back to the cussing out I got for going half speed in practice that day. Coach Jacobs was teaching me a lesson. It was a lesson I could carry on through life. I knew that day if I went half speed at anything then somebody could beat me and may not be somebody that was as good as I was. I remember coach Jacobs loved to shag because he would cut a move on the field sometimes, but he was always looking out for you and wanting you to be better than you thought you could be.
After playing four years of football at Appalachian State University in Boone North Carolina Pat Moore retired his football cleats and opted for a career in criminal justice which almost stands to reason after all his time spent serving up justice on the football field. Moore has been working eighteen years as an P/O Officer with Cabarrus County Probation/Parole where he has sustained a very successful career. Testimonials of Moore’s greatness on the football field can still be found today by the many athletes who were fortunate or unfortunate if you will to have been in Moore’s path from 1984 to 1987, but Moore was never one to be comfortable in the limelight. Coach Boswell made this statement about Pat Moore just after his selection to the Shrine Bowl in 1987. “Pat is such a great kid. He always tells you what he feels. He’s not real comfortable with all the attention he gets because he thinks his teammates should get more” Humbleness is a rare characteristic in the me generation of today’s athlete, but Moore was one of a kind even in his personality traits. This tough man persona Moore exuded on the football field was in stark contrast to the persona he displayed as a classmate and friend. Talk to anyone who went to school with Moore and they will tell you and I quote “Pat was a big teddy bear when he wasn’t playing football” Not exactly the way Moore probably wants to be remembered, but that is concrete evidence you cant always judge a book by it’s cover. Nevertheless, Moore’s reputation as a hard nosed in your face style defensive lineman will forever be his legacy in Kannapolis no matter how loveable he may have been off the field. By the end of Moore’s high school career he owned every weight lifting record at A.L. Brown High School with several of those records still intact today.
Just before leaving A.L. Brown High School there was one more record to be had that Moore had not yet achieved and that record was in the bench press. Moore was content for awhile to have put up 465lbs on the bench, but one day after school changed all that for good. Moore stated that his bench press record was really a dare that was presented by coach Boswell at the conclusion of his senior year. Moore stated this about that record “That was a dare. We were all messing around one day after school in the weight room and coach Boswell came up to me and said “I bet you can’t get 500lbs” not being one to turn down a challenge Moore stated “ I had been practicing with 500lbs just on the side with about three spotters just doing negatives getting use to the weight, and on this day I felt pretty confident I could get the weight up on my own. Back then they gave you T-Shirts that signified the amount of weight you could lift and they put you in clubs like the 200 club, or the 250 club to signify the weight you could put up. On this day I told coach Boswell “If I get this weight up I don’t want a t-shirt, I want one of those coaching jackets. Back then all the coaches had these real nice jackets and that was what I wanted with the weight I lifted stamped on to that jacket. So that afternoon I pushed the weight up and coach Boswell ordered me a jacket” lol. When asked if he still had that one of a kind jacket Moore replied "You know, when I got to Appalachian State somebody stole it" (laughing) I wish I still had it man, That was a nice jacket. (laughing)
Moore confided that he would surpass his 500lb bench press record he held at A.L Brown when he got to Appalachian State where one afternoon during workouts Moore lifted an astonishing 525lbs. They say today’s athlete is bigger, stronger, and faster than any athlete before and that may be true for the most part, but I would beg to differ that Pat Moore is still the standard which all look to follow when they come to A.L. Brown High School. Aside from his criminal justice career, Moore is also a personal trainer at the Kannapolis YMCA and helps many health conscious people design personalized fitness programs that they can execute on their own to keep themselves in top physical condition. Moore can be seen just about every morning or afternoon if he is able and work schedule allows running the Loop road and Greenway in Kannapolis. Moore still has the personal desire to be in the best shape he can be and it is quite evident when you see him in person.
Could Pat Moore still suit up and play football today? Moore says he’s way too old and that those glory days are long since gone, but I would bet money if he put the pads on today and made his way into Memorial Stadium and on to the sidelines he could still butt heads with the best of the day and probably put them on their backside just as efficiently as he did over twenty five years ago from 1984 to 1987. Pat Moore’s legacy in Kannapolis remains today and when any conversation about Kannapolis football comes up around the smoker you can bet his name stands tall amongst all the greats of the era.
Friday Nights in K-Town wishes to thank former Wonder great Pat Moore for spending an afternoon going back into his closet to share his memories and experiences as a Wonder athlete. It was an honor to sit and listen to these stories for the first time and to have the chance to get an inside look at what makes a good athlete great. You still personify that Wonder commitment to excellence on and off the field. You are a model for any young person to follow.
Just before leaving A.L. Brown High School there was one more record to be had that Moore had not yet achieved and that record was in the bench press. Moore was content for awhile to have put up 465lbs on the bench, but one day after school changed all that for good. Moore stated that his bench press record was really a dare that was presented by coach Boswell at the conclusion of his senior year. Moore stated this about that record “That was a dare. We were all messing around one day after school in the weight room and coach Boswell came up to me and said “I bet you can’t get 500lbs” not being one to turn down a challenge Moore stated “ I had been practicing with 500lbs just on the side with about three spotters just doing negatives getting use to the weight, and on this day I felt pretty confident I could get the weight up on my own. Back then they gave you T-Shirts that signified the amount of weight you could lift and they put you in clubs like the 200 club, or the 250 club to signify the weight you could put up. On this day I told coach Boswell “If I get this weight up I don’t want a t-shirt, I want one of those coaching jackets. Back then all the coaches had these real nice jackets and that was what I wanted with the weight I lifted stamped on to that jacket. So that afternoon I pushed the weight up and coach Boswell ordered me a jacket” lol. When asked if he still had that one of a kind jacket Moore replied "You know, when I got to Appalachian State somebody stole it" (laughing) I wish I still had it man, That was a nice jacket. (laughing)
Moore confided that he would surpass his 500lb bench press record he held at A.L Brown when he got to Appalachian State where one afternoon during workouts Moore lifted an astonishing 525lbs. They say today’s athlete is bigger, stronger, and faster than any athlete before and that may be true for the most part, but I would beg to differ that Pat Moore is still the standard which all look to follow when they come to A.L. Brown High School. Aside from his criminal justice career, Moore is also a personal trainer at the Kannapolis YMCA and helps many health conscious people design personalized fitness programs that they can execute on their own to keep themselves in top physical condition. Moore can be seen just about every morning or afternoon if he is able and work schedule allows running the Loop road and Greenway in Kannapolis. Moore still has the personal desire to be in the best shape he can be and it is quite evident when you see him in person.
Could Pat Moore still suit up and play football today? Moore says he’s way too old and that those glory days are long since gone, but I would bet money if he put the pads on today and made his way into Memorial Stadium and on to the sidelines he could still butt heads with the best of the day and probably put them on their backside just as efficiently as he did over twenty five years ago from 1984 to 1987. Pat Moore’s legacy in Kannapolis remains today and when any conversation about Kannapolis football comes up around the smoker you can bet his name stands tall amongst all the greats of the era.
Friday Nights in K-Town wishes to thank former Wonder great Pat Moore for spending an afternoon going back into his closet to share his memories and experiences as a Wonder athlete. It was an honor to sit and listen to these stories for the first time and to have the chance to get an inside look at what makes a good athlete great. You still personify that Wonder commitment to excellence on and off the field. You are a model for any young person to follow.
"Pat Moore"
*To revisit the glory days of former Wonder great Pat Moore click on the appropriate button text below*
1984
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1985
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1986
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1987
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