Bud Moore obit

Bud Moore, former Alabama football player and coach, influential businessman, dies at 86

 

He was not on the list.

Robert “Bud” Moore, a former Alabama football player and assistant coach who was named Big 8 Coach of the Year at Kansas in 1975 and later became highly successful in the business world, died Monday at his farm in Tennessee. He was 86.

Moore’s passing was announced by Paul W. Bryant Museum historian Kirk McNair. Moore, a long-time resident of Seagrove Beach, Fla., ran a highly successful beer distributorship and was a major donor to Alabama athletic department projects following his football days.

According to Moore’s obituary, he “valued loyalty and integrity from all, and reciprocated in turn. He had a sharp intellect and an ability to motivate. He could be hard-nosed and gentle in the same instant. He loved dogs and horses and he dearly loved his family. He believed in people and did his best to surround himself with great ones. He made the people around him better.”

Born in Jasper on Oct. 16, 1939, Moore was raised in the Birmingham area and attended West End High School. He played end at Alabama under coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, earning letters from 1958-60.

Moore was an assistant coach under Charlie Bradshaw at Kentucky (1962-64), Gene Stallings at Texas A&M (1965-70) and Bill Dooley at North Carolina (1971) before joining Bryant’s Alabama staff in 1972. He was part of three straight SEC championship teams and the 1973 national title squad before leaving his alma mater to become head coach at Kansas in 1975.

Moore led the Jayhawks to a 7-5 record and a berth in the Sun Bowl in his debut season, earning Big 8 Coach of the Year honors. He coached at Kansas for four seasons, compiling a record of 18-26-1.

Moore left coaching after the 1978 season and purchased a Miller beer distributorship in Pensacola. In time, Gator Distributors achieved the highest market share of any Miller distributor in the state of Florida for seven straight years.

Moore continued to successfully invest in numerous companies throughout the remainder of his life. He later raised champion show horses and hunting dogs with his wife, Suzanne.

Moore also contributed generously to his alma mater, helping fund the Alabama football building and the indoor practice facility in the late 1980s and various upgrades to Bryant-Denny Stadium over the years. He was also one of the establishing donors to the Tide Pride program in 1987 and later served on the executive committee for the Crimson Tradition fund.

“Moore’s impact on his beloved UA and Crimson Tide athletics extended well beyond his playing and coaching days,” McNair wrote. “With an emphasis on what he called “giving back,” he quietly devoted countless hours, as well as substantial financial resources, wisdom and experience to the institution and its people. He believed to his core that former student-athletes should do all they can to support Alabama as they develop their post-graduate careers.”

Moore was named the Paul W. Bryant Alumni Athlete of the Year in 1995. He is a member of both the Kansas University Athletics Hall of Fame and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

He served as the head coach at the University of Kansas from 1975 to 1978, compiling a record of 18–26–1. In his first season in 1975, Moore was named Big Eight Coach of the Year and was runner-up to Woody Hayes of Ohio State as the Football Writers Association of America National Coach of the Year. Moore led his team to a 23–3 upset over eventual national champion Oklahoma, breaking the Sooners' 37-game unbeaten streak and handing coach Barry Switzer his first loss.

Moore's first coaching job out of college was as an assistant at Gadsden High School in Gadsden, Alabama in 1961. He left that job in 1962 to join Charlie Bradshaw's staff at the University of Kentucky as offensive line coach. He departed Kentucky after the 1964 season to become offensive coordinator at Texas A&M University under new head coach Gene Stallings. Moore left Texas A&M in early 1971 to become offensive line coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under Bill Dooley. Moore replaced Jimmy Vickers, who departed to take the same job at the University of Georgia. Moore returned to Alabama in 1972 to coach the offensive backfield under Bryant, and was named offensive coordinator for the 1974 season. Following the 1974 season, he was hired as the head coach at the University of Kansas, succeeding Don Fambrough.

The Jayhawks switched to the wishbone formation when Moore came to Lawrence. Kansas' wishbone was piloted by quarterback Nolan Cromwell, who was named 1975 Big Eight Offensive Player of the Year and later went on to an 11-year Pro Bowl career as a defensive back with the Los Angeles Rams. In 1976, the Jayhawks started 4-0 and were ranked 8th in the AP poll (the last time they would be ranked in 17 years), but after QB Cromwell suffered a season-ending knee injury against Oklahoma, KU finished 6–5. Moore was the first KU coach with back-to-back winning seasons since Jack Mitchell in 1961-62, but this success was followed by 4–6–1 in 1977 and then 1–10 in 1978. In spite of dominating rivals Missouri and Kansas State, these struggles, failure to improve facilities, plus lagging attendance, led to Moore's firing as head coach after four seasons.

Moore is survived by his wife, Suzanne Peters Moore; sister Brenda Moore (Gordon) Day of Huntsville, sister-in-law Janet Alvis Moore, of Pensacola, Fla.; son Matt (Allison) Moore of Birmingham, daughter Kimberly Vann of Tuscaloosa, stepdaughter Kaitlin Kyle Burns of Inlet Beach, Fla.; as well as grandchildren Matt (Eliza) Moore Jr. of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Caroline Moore of Birmingham and Elizabeth Vann of Birmingham; and step-grandchildren Dorothy Dillard Burns and William Loomis Burns V, of Inlet Beach, Fla.

Funeral service is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 6 at Corinth Church Of Christ, 6593 CR-15, Bremen, AL 35033, with visitation in the chapel at 1 p.m. and a service at 2 p.m. A private, family burial will immediately follow in the adjacent cemetery.

Coaching career (HC unless noted)

1961    Gadsden HS (AL) (assistant)

1962–1964      Kentucky (OL)

1965–1970      Texas A&M (OC)

1971    North Carolina (OL)

1972–1973      Alabama (RB)

1974    Alabama (OC)

1975–1978      Kansas

Head coaching record

Overall            18–26–1