About Inductee

Joe Moore, one of Porter Moore, Jrs younger brothers, may have said it best while describing the culture-changing achievements in the all-too-short life and times of his brother. I watched Porter go through the struggle, said Joe. He was a true pioneer in the integration of athletics in Huntsville and Madison County. Not many individuals couldve handled the racial slurs and threats he had to go through so that his siblings and others could follow in his footsteps. He had heart, stamina, hope and a dream. He knew it was his time, and he showed the community how athletics could make a difference. The end of segregation of Alabamas public schools was still in its infancy when, at the beginning of the 1966-67 school year, Porter Moore transferred from all-black Councill Training School to Huntsvilles Lee High School and quickly established himself as one of the top all-around athletes, black or white, in North Alabama. Quick, agile and rangy, Moore became a two-year starter, an All-City end and captain of the football team. He helped lead the basketball team to its first state championship in 1968. He was a cornerstone of the track team. Porter was more than a great athlete; he was also a great human being, said Dr. Fulton Hamilton, Lees principal at the time. Porter did everything with dignity, said Lees football coach, Keith Wilson. Lee basketball coach Jerry Dugan said, Porter was a tremendous athlete and a tremendous person, and one of the forerunners in the integration of sports here. Ill never forget the way he played in the 68 state tournament. Behind the All-Tournament performances of Moore and Danny Petty, the Generals swept Bradshaw, Tuscaloosa and Gadsden to win the state 4A championship. Following his graduation from Lee in 1968, Moore joined the U.S. Army and served honorably until his discharge in 1972. He then enrolled at Alabama A&M on a football scholarship. An inside linebacker, he was a senior on legendary coach Louis Crews last A&M team in 1975. By then, Joe Moore was an offensive guard at Tuskegee Institute, where he became a four-year starter and eventually a member of Tuskegees Athletic Hall of Fame. Ill always remember the thrill of playing against my brother in college, said Joe, now a resident of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. I was outnumbered two-to-one on the field that day. One of my sisters, Yvonne, was an A&M cheerleader. Tuskegee won, 26-21. A few days later, Porter played one of his best games, recovering a fumble and intercepting a pass in the Bulldogs 31-12 victory over Miles College. Several weeks later while preparing to attend an A&M basketball game against Fisk, Porter collapsed at his home and died of a heart attack. He was 27. He left behind his wife Barbara, his young son Bernard, his mother Pearl, three brothers, three sisters and an unforgettable, enduring legacy in Huntsvilles sports history.