ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT – RICK MOORE

Rick Moore’s love for Decatur Township began before he ever stepped foot inside a school building. His father, Bob Moore, was a 1945 graduate, athlete, teacher, coach, and athletic director at Decatur Central high school, and he later became a beloved principal at West Newton Elementary. That’s not it though, Rick’s mother, Joy Ann Nelson, was a dedicated actress featured in many of the district’s musical programs and was voted Homecoming Queen in 1947.

A member of the Decatur Central bicentennial class of 1976, Rick was a member of yearbook, newspaper, and drama club, while also managing to find time to serve as the student manager for both track and cross country. While highly active in extracurricular activities, Rick is perhaps best remembered for his photography and writing while working at the Mooresville Times from 1977-1992. He was not only a reporter, but also an associate editor, sports editor, and an editor all throughout his time at the paper, earning several Hoosier State Press Association Awards for Distinguished Community Service, reporting, sports writing, best sports section, editorials, and photography.

Rick went on to spend his next 22 years in Bloomington, working in communications for Hoosier Energy where his talents did not go unnoticed. His writing and photography once again won him more than 20 awards from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

In 2015, Rick fulfilled a longtime dream by writing, designing, and publishing Loyal & True, The Golden Era of Decatur Central Football. This 225-page book recounted the three undefeated years of Hawk football from 1968-1970 and the career of legendary Coach Devere Fair – a few copies were even sold! While writing the book, Rick started The Loyal and True Facebook page that has since evolved into a Decatur Central sports history and heritage page recounting many old Hawk sports memories.

For the past four years, Rick has served as chair of the Decatur Central Athletic Hall of Fame Committee. He has helped this group rewrite the bylaws and clarify and strengthen nomination criteria. These days, Rick puts all his efforts toward supporting his wife Michele, the superintendent at MSD of Martinsville schools, and son Daniel, a Purdue graduate who is a young executive at Hormel Foods. He continues to dabble in sports writing and photographing but spends most of his time traveling across the country with Michele and producing photo books to share just another one of his wonderful experiences.