Alan Moore: The Oldest College Football Player in History

On September 10th, 2015, 61-year-old Alan Moore suits up for the Faulkner University Eagles. And during the game, he gets put in and kicks a field goal. All at the age of 61. Becoming the oldest college football player to ever play in a game. In a story that sounds right out of Hollywood. We're going to learn all about it today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide, as you learn all about sports history to increase your sports knowledge. And today's trivia question to listen out for is, how much older was Alan Moore than the previous oldest college football player? Now, Alan Moore grew up in Mississippi, and for Augustine's purposes, he grew up as a regular Southern boy. He had three brothers, and they grew up on a 300-acre farm. Growing up, going to school, and coming home, doing chores like cutting hay, pulling corn, planting vegetables, feeding chickens. But that big farm meant they had plenty of spaces to play. And they loved to play football. And they would play football in the front yard, basketball in the backyard, basketball hoop on a pine tree. And they would go play baseball in the pasture. And Alan's mom actually was the one that kind of got him into kicking. She said she really enjoyed the kicking aspect of football. Now maybe she was just trying to keep him safe. But that's the position he really took up. And at this time, back in the 1950s and 60s, straight on kicking is what was common, which is where you line up in a straight line from the ball to the goal. You don't come at the ball from the side like we see today, which didn't become popular until in the 1970s. And his family supported him. They were at every high school game at the 50-yard line watching him kick. He got a lot of attention from schools like Arkansas State and Oklahoma State, but no scholarship offers. His family couldn't afford tuition, so Moore chose a small college 25 minutes away at Jones County Junior College. He would go on to kick a 55-yard field goal as his team went 9-0 and won a state championship his freshman year. This was a great time for him and the school, but it was 1968. So after his freshman year, with his draft number getting close, Allen decided to join the army so he could pick his assignment and maybe not be sent into combat to avoid the challenges of the Vietnam War. But he still got put into the infantry division and had to go fight in Vietnam for almost a year. And when he came back from the war, school wasn't on his mind. He learned how to lay pipe and embarked on a career in civil construction and left his dream of football behind to help raise his family and over the span of four decades he would have two wives and three kids just go on to live his life but just like all of us we always wonder what if and he played that game for a while back in 2009 after the housing market crashed he got laid off and so at the age of 59 he moved back to mississippi so he could be around his grandkids and maybe possibly live out his dream Not knowing what to do next, he thought about going back to college. But if he did, he wanted to try to see if he could still kick. So he even fashioned a goal post in the backyard out of PVC pipe to test if he could still do it. And after 40 years since he last kicked, he showed he was able to do it. So he went back to his old college, Jones County Community College, and told the coach, don't give away my jersey because I'm coming down to kick for you this year. But the college wasn't interested in having Alan Moore So he went on to try out for Holmes Community College in Wichita, Mississippi, and they gave him a roster spot. But that doesn't mean he was able to play. And after that season at Holmes, he got in contact with the coach at Faulkner University, which was an NAIA school, as Holmes went winless and wasn't scoring very much, so there wasn't a lot of chances to kick. But Faulkner might be a better option. When he arrived for his tryout for Faulkner, their coach could see that he wasn't just playing around. Even though he was 16 years the senior of his coach, he joined the Faulkner team. The team always looked up to him like a coach, as he was older than his other coaches, but he was very supportive from the team, and he wore number 26. Now, this was actually a good thing for Faulkner. It got him a lot of publicity, and the media actually came down in August to kind of talk to Moore and be there for their games. And they actually asked the coach, is he actually going to play? And he said, if we have the opportunity, if we get up, he will play. So in their first game against Ave Maria University, it's exactly what happened. The Eagles went up 24-0, and after missing an extra point and had a pair of failed two-point conversions, Alan Moore finally got the call to step in to kick a field goal. Wearing a square-toed shoe and his signature straight-on style, He went in to kick an extra point and gave them a 25 lead, and they would end the game with a win, 41-19, giving Alan Moore the record for being the oldest player to ever play a college football game, beating out Tom Thompson by just two months, who had played for Austin College back in 2009. And he was supported? By his family. His kids and his grandkids were at the game. And everyone was there to cheer him. As he finally got to live out his dream. It wasn't a what if. It's he went out there and got to kick. Again. On his own terms. And he presented his jersey, football, and kicking shoe to the College Football Hall of Fame. So he could be enshrined forever. If you like this story. please leave us a rating or review wherever you're listening. In that review, tell us a topic you want us to cover, and we'll get that done just for you. And come back tomorrow for more daily sports history. And did you catch the answer to today's trivia question? How much older was Alan Moore than the previous record holder? And he was just two months older than Tom Thompson, the previous record holder. Thank you.