The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame owes Bernie Moore a unique debt: he was the organization’s first president. Moore undertook the presidency after retiring to Winchester, Tennessee, from a life in sports that embraced playing, coaching, and administrating at the regional level. Born in Jonesborough, Tennessee, in 1895, Moore played football and baseball for Carson-Newman and then began coaching high school football, baseball, basketball, and track. In 1924 he entered college coaching at Sewanee, assisting in football and handling the track duties. His track team immediately won the SIAA and Southern Conference championships. After two years at Sewanee and Mercer University, Moore moved on to Louisiana State University. Starting as assistant, he was promoted to track head coach in 1930 and football head coach in 1935. Under Moore, LSU won fourteen Southern or Southeastern Conference track titles. Moore was the 1932 Olympic assistant track coach and the next year with a five-man squad, he won the SEC’s first NCAA national championship. In football, Moore snagged two SEC championships immediately in 1935 and 1936, also taking the nation’s top title and the Deke Houlgate Award in the latter season. His overall record at LSU was 83-39-6 and included five trips to the Sugar, Cotton, and Orange Bowls in thirteen seasons at LSU. Moore served as an SEC commissioner, 1947-1966; was inducted into the National College Football Hall of Fame in 1954; and was awarded the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award in 1966.
