Former University of Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore dead at 73
Tuscaloosa News – March 31
Ten days after stepping down from the athletic directorship at the University of Alabama, Mal Moore — the former backup quarterback who became an administrator and led UA back to national prominence in athletics — died Saturday morning at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Moore was hospitalized March 10 in Birmingham for treatment of pulmonary problems. On March 13, he was transferred to Duke Medical Center, where he died Saturday morning. “There’s no question we have lost a great man today,” Alabama football coach Nick Saban said in a statement Saturday. “What won’t be lost is Mal’s legacy in serving our university to make it a better place today and in the future. Nobody genuinely cared more about the Crimson Tide than Mal did. Mal has positively impacted athletics at Alabama unlike anyone ever has or probably ever will.
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Mal Moore admired for who he was off the field as much as on
Tuscaloosa News – April 1
Hannah Trammell was 13 and at one of her first University of Alabama football games when she met Mal Moore. “He drove up on this Alabama golf cart and said ‘I have two 50-yard-line tickets here, you go enjoy the game,’ ” said Trammell, now a 22-year-old UA senior from Hayden. “I had no idea who he was, but I could tell he was somebody important. He was so distinguished.” Trammell’s father Scott Trammell knew exactly who the athletic director was. “It didn’t surprise me a bit that Mal Moore would do something like that,” he said. “Alabama football and people surrounding it are great folks.” The Trammells were among the legions of UA fans saddened by the death of the former UA athletic director, who died at the age of 73 on Saturday at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina from pulmonary problems. Hannah Trammell had the chance to tell Moore of their first meeting when she met him again in January. She was working as an intern for Caring Days, a day program for adults with memory disorders and went to Moore’s office with director Vicki Kerr. Moore learned Trammell was a football fan, and took time to show her photos he had taken during the 2012 football season. “I’m sure he was busy, but he took the time to talk to us,” she said. “He put on his coat, and buttoned it up just to take a picture with me.”
Mal Moore remembered for dedication, charm
Tuscaloosa News – March 31
Less than a month ago, Tommy Brooker walked past Mal Moore in Buddy’s Rib & Steak in Northport and didn’t spot his old teammate until he got close enough to recognize that familiar face. “He had his hat pulled down low and he was dressed down,” Brooker said. “I stopped and said, ‘You trying to go incognito?’ He chuckled and said, ‘Yeah.’ “I ate breakfast with my wife there this morning. It’s hard to believe I won’t see him there anymore.” There are many more stories just like that told by former teammates, players and employees of Moore, who died Saturday at the age of 73. They are stories that reveal a gentleness and charm. Those close with Moore knew he was always quick with a joke, too. After Moore retired from coaching, then-Alabama Athletics Director Hootie Ingram brought him aboard as an associate athletic director. “Mal had a great sense of humor,” Ingram said. “He was one of the best at telling Coach (Paul) Bryant stories I’ve ever heard.
Fox 10 (Mobile) – March 30
Alabama coach Nick Saban: ‘Mal was the No. 1 reason we decided to make the move to Tuscaloosa’
Al.com – March 31
Reaction continues to pour in from the University of Alabama athletics community upon the passing of former athletic director Mal Moore. The latest comes from Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who has led the Crimson Tide to three BCS National Championships since Moore wooed him away from the Miami Dolphins in 2007. “Mal was truly a special person in every sense of the word,” Saban said in a university statement. “We can talk about all the championships Mal has been involved with, but I think what will be remembered most was the man he was. He always put the best interests of others ahead of his own, he carried himself as a first-class gentleman, and he helped bring out the best in those around him. “Mal was an outstanding leader in terms of all he did for Alabama athletics. Most importantly, he was a great friend to me and my family. Mal was the No. 1 reason we decided to make the move to Tuscaloosa.”
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – March 30
Sylvester Croom praises Mal Moore for building ‘premier program in college football’
Al.com – March 24
At one time, Sylvester Croom was considered a candidate to become the head football coach at the University of Alabama. Crimson Tide athletics director Mal Moore chose Mike Shula for the job. Alabama announced on Wednesday that Moore was stepping down as the university’s athletics director, citing health concerns. On Saturday night, Croom had nothing but the highest praise for Moore, who was the Crimson Tide’s quarterbacks coach when Croom was an All-American center for Alabama. The men also served together on the Tide’s coaching staff under Paul “Bear” Bryant. “I think Mal has done an absolutely fantastic job,” Croom said. “I don’t know if any other athletic director maybe in the history of college football has done as much for a program as what he’s done for the University of Alabama. He took it over during a troubling, tough time for the university, and he’s built it into the premier program in college football.
Alabama coaches react to passing of longtime athletics director Mal Moore
Al.com – March 31
Courtesy of Alabama media relations, response from coaches throughout the athletic department in the wake of longtime athletics director Mal Moore’s passing … Sarah Patterson – gymnastics coach “Mal’s passing is devastating to me and to everyone in the Crimson Tide family. No one loved the University of Alabama more than Mal Moore and that love and devotion is why he was the heart and soul of this athletics department and it’s why he’ll be missed in ways large and small for years to come … Anthony Grant – men’s basketball coach. “We are extremely saddened to hear the news of Coach Moore’s passing today. We are eternally grateful for all he has done for our family. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his daughter, Heather, his grandchildren and extended family. He was a great man.”
Anniston Star – March 30
WHNT 19 (Huntsville) – March 30
Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs “extremely saddened” by passing of Mal Moore
Al.com – March 30
In the wake of the death of former Alabama athletic director Mal Moore, the Auburn athletics department Auburn held a moment of silence before the national anthem at the finale of its three-game series against the Crimson Tide, Auburn’s WNIT quarterfinal against Drexel and also observed a moment of silence before the final of the SEC Equestrian Championships being held at Auburn. Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs responded initially by tweeting that he was “deeply saddened” by the news of Moore’s death, then released the following statement. “I’m extremely saddened by the passing of my friend and colleague, Mal Moore. He served his alma mater with grace and dignity, and spent a majority of his life giving to the university that he loved. Mal was an outstanding leader, fierce competitor and most important, an outstanding human being. He will be missed, but his legacy at Alabama will live on forever. On behalf of the Auburn Family, our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter, Heather, the extended Moore family, as well as everyone associated with the University of Alabama.”
Anniston Star – March 30
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – March 30
COLUMN: Alabama athletic director leaves lasting legacy
Hattiesburg American – March 31
An athletic director regarded with pope-like significance, Mal Moore was a man known and loved by current and former students of the University of Alabama. A strong leader with a passion for football, Moore helped shape the school’s athletics department into a world-class program with boundless notoriety. But time seemed to stop Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., as Duke University Medical Center officials announced that the long-time Crimson Tide administrator had died of pulmonary complications. Moore was 73, and left behind a legacy that will forever be etched in college football history. Days before his unexpected death, university officials had stated that Bill Battle would become the next athletics director. The move signaled a changing of the guard and a new era for Moore’s vision that he saw for the department. It will, without a doubt, be a significant transformation for the university. But his personal history will undoubtedly be as relevant as famed football great Paul “Bear” Bryant, with whom Moore crossed paths years ago.
Governor Robert Bentley reacts to the death of Mal Moore
Al.com – March 30
Gov. Robert Bentley, a Tuscaloosa native and University of Alabama graduate, said Mal Moore “will be deeply missed” across Alabama. Moore, the former UA athletics director, died today at 73. “I’ve known Mal for over 30 years and have always considered him a good friend as well as a good man,” Bentley said in a statement to AL.com. “He was devoted to UA Athletics, and he will also be remembered for his dedication to his family. Mal made a positive impact on our entire state. I want to offer my deepest condolences to his family during this time.”
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – March 30
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – March 30
Mal Moore’s lasting words in his final public speech at Alabama (video)
Al.com – March 30
On a chilly January day, Mal Moore was the first to step behind the podium at Alabama’s BCS National Championship celebration. Four minutes and a couple of loud ovations later, the longtime Alabama athletics director returned to his chair and soaked in the rest of the event. The man he’d plucked away from the Miami Dolphins in 2007, Nick Saban, was the main attraction, but Moore set the tone with a memorable opening speech. It was ultimately Moore’s final public speech as Alabama’s athletics director. It was ultimately Moore’s final public speech as Alabama’s athletics director. On March 20, he stepped down from the position he’d held since 1999 because of ongoing pulmonary problems. Ten days later, Moore passed away at the age of 73.
In a career that touched seven decades, Mal Moore was the athletic trinity at Alabama
Al.com – March 24
Player. Coach. Administrator. For at least parts of seven decades, Mal Moore was the athletic trinity at Alabama, and with each role, he did more. As a player, the truth is, he didn’t do much except survive the beginning of the Paul “Bear” Bryant era, and in those days, mere survival was a major accomplishment. As an assistant coach, he became Bryant’s top associate and later served under Gene Stallings. As an administrator, he served as a steady, sturdy bridge between the past and present, capping 47 years at the school that he loved and that loved him in return. Now, because of a chronic health issue that has him hospitalized in Durham, N.C., Moore finds his role changing again. On Wednesday, Alabama announced that Moore was stepping down as athletics director. He will serve as a special assistant to the university president and as athletics director emeritus.
New Alabama athletic director says he’s ready for his next challenge
Tuscaloosa News – March 22
Carrying on an unprecedented level of overall success in athletics at the University of Alabama is certainly part of the mission for new UA Director of Athletics Bill Battle. But the first thing on his to-do list? A six-week education from UA athletics coaches and staff that Battle described as “a listening tour.” “What I’m going to do for the next six weeks or so is go on a listening tour and try to be a sponge and soak up everything that I can soak up from everybody I can get in front of to learn every facet that I can about this athletics department,” said Battle, 71. “I want to learn about its people, I want to learn about how they perform, I want to learn about what they do, I want to learn if that is what they should do.” On Friday, however, he listened as school officials from President Judy Bonner to football coach Nick Saban delivered endorsements for the UA board of trustees’ approval of Battle’s contract. The four-year agreement calls for a salary of $620,000.
Gadsden Times – March 22
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USA Today – March 23
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Ben Shurett: Interesting times for University of Alabama
Sand Mountain Reporter – March 22
No one loves Alabama more than Moore and, with that in mind, he gave up his duties in the athletic department. That’s no surprise. As much as anyone I know, he has always put the needs of others ahead of his own. That’s who he is. When you are public figure, and in Alabama, especially if you are a leader in collegiate athletics, the public feels it has the right to vehemently and anonymously take shots at you from every direction. Mal knows that as well as anyone. He’s been the target of both good and bad reports. Not as many know Mal, now 73 years old, lost his wife in early 2010. Charlotte had battled Alzheimer’s for 20 years before her death. Few know her illness is the real reason Mal gave up coaching and moved into athletic administration.
Alabama fans happy with new athletic director
WAKA 8 (Montgomery) – March 22
In a news conference Friday, the University of Alabama announced their new athletic director would be former Crimson Tide player Bill Battle. Battle played with Mal Moore on Bear Bryant’s 1961 national championship team, going on to serve as head coach at the University of Tennessee in the 1970’s. “I had time and good health and the desire to see Mal’s legacy continue,” said Battle in a news conference. And fans seem to be very pleased with the decision. “I think he will do a great job as long as he keeps the tradition of the things that Mal Moore set in motion going, and the athletic program will thrive in the future,” said Derrick Roberts. Former Alabama player Mike Washington actually played football when Mal Moore was coach. He had a lot of respect for the man who is stepping down. “He was actually quarterback coach and you very seldom heard him raise his voice. He always spoke to you as a gentleman, a man, a player. And when he became athletic director, we all knew they had a good man,” said Washington.
Bill Battle won’t be standing still
Scout.com – March 22
Bill Battle comes into Alabama’s job as director of athletics where “the old coach,” Mal Moore, was doing an outstanding job. In fact, Moore had been named the nation’s best athletics director and winner and the Toner Award, just last December. When Moore was forced to resign his position this week because of poor health, The University moved quickly – and followed Moore’s request – in naming Battle to the post. Battle, a teammate of Moore’s in the early 1960s, has not been an athletics director before, but he had qualities that coaches appreciate in an AD. He has been a coach and he has been successful as an administrator. Battle inherits a program that is one of the most financially successful in the nation and one in which there were four national championships last year (football, gymnastics, women’s golf, and softball) and has already been one this academic year (the repeat of football). It’s a tough act to follow, but Battle has a plan that stems from his football days as a player at Bama and later as a coach. “You either get better or you get worse,” he said. “You try to keep going the way you’re going. As you strive for excellence in athletics – as you do preparing young people for life – that never changes. There are always challenges. There’s never a perfect way to do it. There are always better ways to do it.”
Crimson White – March 22
University of Alabama moves up business school rankings
Tuscaloosa News – March 23
The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration moved up four places to No. 29 among public universities in the just-released 2013 Bloomberg Businessweek rankings, and it moved up seven places to No. 73 among all business schools. “Our goal is to be in the top 25 among public institutions,” said J. Michael Hardin, dean of the business school. “We are pleased with this new position, but, as with any ranking, it takes hard work to move upward and dedication to maintain and improve your ranking. We have to continue to be innovative with our curriculum and activities and make sure we remain relevant in today’s evolving economic environment.” The UA business school earned a high ranking from students, coming in at No. 35 among all institutions. “That ranking is particularly encouraging,” Hardin said, “because students are why we do what we do.”
Feature film project seeks funding for Tuscaloosa shooting
Tuscaloosa News – March 22
Tuscaloosa’s feature filmmaking history isn’t rich, but it will grow one sizeable movie larger if an IndieGoGo campaign launched Thursday grows as expected. “Song of Kwagala,” based on a script by Chris Schroeder, could involve a month or more of shooting in Tuscaloosa, along with another 10 days to two weeks filming in Uganda…Yet another piece clicked into place with Michael Wilk, since 1982 the keyboardist for John Kay and Steppenwolf, who’s been living in Tuscaloosa since last July. His daughter Mandy is a flutist and musical therapy major in the University of Alabama’s School of Music, and since September, Wilk has been teaching studio recording techniques at UA, while still flying out to make Steppenwolf gigs. Murphy tracked him down through the Steppenwolf website, a process that routed through band founder and frontman Kay’s manager, to Kay, to Wilk’s manager and finally to Wilk…Not only could UA’s ensembles perform much of the soundtrack for the film, he said, but composing students might be involved in the writing of the incidental music. A team including Wilk, School of Music Chair Charles “Skip” Snead, guitarist and Arts and Sciences associate dean Tom Wolfe and others plan to meet next week to discuss possibilities.
STJ 2010 alum named editor-in-chief of ‘Crimson White’
Montgomery Advertiser – March 26
Montgomerian Mazie Bryant, a 2010 alumnus of Saint James School, has been named the editor-in-chief of the University of Alabama’s The Crimson White student newspaper for 2013-14. Bryant, the daughter of Dr. Elizabeth Diebel and Mr. Charles Diebel and Mr. David Bryant, is a junior studying journalism. “I am extremely excited to lead The Crimson White over the next year,” Bryant said. “The past two years I have been incredibly fortunate to work under determined and motivated leaders that were successful in fulfilling their visions for the newspaper and creating award-winning final products. Now it is time to not only sustain our success but also expand it.” The Crimson White, with a circulation of 15,000 during the fall and spring academic year, is distributed to 137 locations at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa as well as within the Tuscaloosa and Northport areas. The independent student newspaper and its staff have won numerous awards throughout the paper’s 109-year existence, including the Collegiate Crown and Gold Circle Awards.
Alabama graduate acting on Broadway
Tuscaloosa News – April 1
A lucky guy, maybe; but hard work and training, natural talent, and more hard work brought him to Broadway. Tuscaloosa native and University of Alabama graduate Stephen T. Williams, acting opposite Tom Hanks in “Lucky Guy,” has arrived in theater’s mecca, just as many around here predicted. UA System spokeswoman Kellee Reinhart saw Williams’ star shine in his first play, a production of “Once On This Island” at Central High School. Back in 2004, when fans and friends threw a going-away party on his graduation from UA, she said: “He is a towering talent. We knew we were watching the beginning of an incredible career, like seeing a young Sidney Poitier. We knew we’d see him on Broadway one day.” Within a week of hitting the Big Apple, he’d landed a starring role in a national tour, gaining his Equity (the actors’ union) card in the process. He’s worked steadily upward since, in independent films and on TV, including the lead role in the Showtime movie “Children of God,” and a part in the David Mamet-written HBO film “Phil Spector,” along with numerous off-Broadway and prestigious regional theater works.
New security video could help Chattanooga officers involved in beating get their jobs back
Chattanooga Times-Free Press – March 25
Adam Tatum’s blood seemed to be everywhere. It was all over the floor of the Salvation Army halfway house, spilled by repeated blows from the batons and fists of Chattanooga police officers. Officers who responded to the scene well after the mayhem was under way took care to step around the blood. Most paid less attention to the struggle going on in front of them, passing through on their way to make sure other inmates were contained … And their attorneys believe that supplementary video showing a different view of what happened that night supports their contention that the officers acted with appropriate force in the face of a threat … Norman Baldwin, a political science professor at the University of Alabama, has researched whistle blowing within police departments. He said the more egregious the offense, the more likely officers are to report it. After watching unedited footage of Tatum’s beating, he said it’s unclear why no one stepped forward in this case. He said all departments have a culture of their own. “I believe that most individuals who become police officers have a true respect for the law. It is one of the reasons they are attracted to law enforcement. They will report officers who break the law and behave unethically,” he said. “It is a tragedy that a few bad cops shape the images and opinions of all the good cops who protect our communities with keen judgment and respect for victims of crime and those accused of crime.”
Get more from your fruit: Eat the peel
Omaha.com – March 30
Having someone peel you a grape might seem like the ultimate in pampering. But if maintaining your health is also desirable, you might want to leave fruits and vegetables intact. “You’re doing an injustice to remove the peel,” said Kristi Michele Crowe, assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Alabama and Institute of Food Technologists media spokeswoman. The peel — the outermost barrier protecting the flesh — is higher in dietary fiber and often contains beneficial phytonutrients (plant nutrients beyond vitamins and minerals) not found in the flesh, according to health experts.
GUEST COLUMNIST: Public health policies are not new; they save lives, funds
Tuscaloosa News – March 24
The state of Alabama has a right to boast that it is No. 1 in college football. The state has produced the college football national champion for the last four years. Despite these accolades, we are also tops in the country for some of the worst health outcomes. The recent editorial in The Tuscaloosa News about the New York Supreme Court’s overruling of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s push to decrease the size of sugary drinks in New York City is an example of missing the point. One of the major roles of government is to protect the public’s health. The New York City proposal is one of many approaches to solve a major health issue. The public health policy to decrease the size of sugary drinks comes at a time in U.S. history when the dramatically increasing obesity epidemic is not only affecting our health but is also costing us dearly. The estimated annual health care cost of obesity-related illnesses is a staggering $190.2 billion, or nearly 21 percent of annual medical spending in the United States. Childhood obesity alone is responsible for $14 billion in direct medical costs. (Dr. Pamela Payne Foster is associate professor of community and rural medicine and deputy director of the Institute for Rural Health Research in the College of Community Health Sciences at the University of Alabama.)
GUEST COLUMNIST: An inept history of living with firearms
Tuscaloosa News – March 24
Guns have never been part of my life, but a twist of fate put me in the middle of guns, testimony to the circumstances that drive our lives into extraordinary spaces and places. My gun story begins with shooting a bird with a BB gun sometime when I was 7 or 8 years old. I shot the bird up in a tree — and for some reason, hit it — and it fluttered down to the ground, wounded and slowly dying, flopping around from the pain and shock of the BB pellet. I watched in horror at what I had done. I forget the rest of the scene, but I hung up my hunting genes then and there. Basically, I was done with guns, I thought. So it was a bit of surprise when my name was called over the loudspeaker as I waited to board a jet in the summer of 1964 on my way to the Mediterranean. “Ensign Clayton, please report to counter blah blah.” (Larry Clayton is a professor of history at the University of Alabama.)
AEA members seek answers, assurance
Anniston Star – March 28
The state legislature passed the Alabama Accountability Act earlier this month amid controversy after significantly altering the bill to include a tax credit to allow families to send students in failing public schools to private schools. Gov. Robert Bentley signed the measure last week after the state Supreme Court overturned an injunction sought by the AEA. Former AEA Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert helped build “tremendous influence” in the state legislature during his more than four-decade-long tenure, according to Bill Stewart, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama. “Before Hubbert came on the scene, AEA was impotent politically,” Stewart said, noting that the association swelled its ranks by incorporating school employees such as bus drivers and lunchroom workers as members and became a Democratic-leaning quasi-union. “With the Republican ascent in 2010, their power has been greatly diminished,” Stewart said.
UA’s Arty Party to auction off Nick Saban signed football, other items to benefit Creative Writing Program
Al.com – March 25
The 2013 University of Alabama Arty Party “Writing on the River” will be held on April 5 at 6 p.m. at the Pavilion at the Cypress Inn to benefit UA’s Creative Writing Program. The event will include an auction that will have a Nick Saban-autographed football, silver elephant cuff links, a New York vacation package and week-long accommodations in a Buenos Aires apartment and other items up for grabs. These auctions will both be live and silent and will have over 75 items that were donated. The silent auction will include season tickets to Nick Saban’s Nick at Noon sports luncheon, houndstooth clothing, fine pearls and a red 20-inch children’s bike. There will also be $500 scholarships to the student winners of the Arty Party competition in non-fiction, fiction and poetry categories.
NYC composer Aaron Siegel, UA Percussion Ensemble to conclude Sonic Frontiers series
Al.com – March 28
The University of Alabama Sonic Frontiers concert series will conclude its 2012-13 season Monday, April 8 at 6 p.m. with New York City composer Aaron Siegel and the UA Percussion Ensemble. The concert will take place on the Black Warrior River at the Park at Manderson Landing in Tuscaloosa. The UA percussion ensemble, led by Tim Feeney, will perform Siegel’s hypnotic piece for eight glockenspiels, “Science is Only a Sometimes Friend.” Siegel’s piece invites audience engagement, so the public is encouraged to bring pitched instruments of any kind to take part in this interactive experience. Those who attend are also encouraged to bring chairs and blankets to enjoy the sunset performance. A Q&A with composer Aaron Siegel will follow the concert.