"Tom Moore inducted into Hall of Fame"

BY Rey Pascua · January 27, 2010

Reprinted under permission of the Prosser Record Bulletin

Prosser Record Bulletin

BELLEVUE - The evening of Saturday, Jan. 23, was one for the ages for the fans of Prosser High School Mustang football. And the word "brother" took on a special meaning during the events of the evening.

Tom Moore, who resigned as head football coach of the Mustangs in 2009, was inducted, with two others, into the Washington State Football Coaches Association (WSFCA) Hall of Fame at the Hilton Hotel in Bellevue in front of 300 of his coaching colleagues. The coach was accompanied by his wife, Kris. Prosser High Principal Kevin Lusk also attended the proceedings.

The induction ceremony at the annual banquet was part of the WSFCA conference, which ran over the weekend. The three new inductees were Moore, Craig Beverlin and Ron Rood.

The Hall of Fame ceremony was special for Moore because he was voted into the Hall of Fame with his friend and "brother," retired Kennewick Kamiakin head coach Craig Beverlin.

Beverlin traveled to the induction from Louisiana, where he lives with his wife and continues to coach.

Ron Rood coached for 10 years at Fife High School and for 25 years at Concrete High.

Moore and Beverlin took turns introducing each other and told tales of the other's exploits and achievements in coaching, while also providing glimpses into their special friendship.

"We came to Washington from Illinois 25 years ago. I knew Tom in Illinois, and I urged him to come to Washington state after we were here about a year," said Beverlin, who coached in the Tri-Cities, and was known as an innovator.

"Tom is a genius. He knows offensive football and lives it every day of his life," said Beverlin of Moore.

The two shared coaching philosophies and applied their football coaching craft for one reason, "for the love of the game and the kids."

Beverlin indicated that Moore, who he described as an excellent teacher, and his family lived with Beverlin during the first two summers that the Moores were in Washington state.

"We were the first school to have spring practice," said Beverlin, but it was Tom who researched the issue, and who started the practice at Prosser.

With success on the football field at Kamiakin and Prosser, the two often traveled together to football camps and conferences.

Moore coached at Prosser for 23 years. His teams won 21 league championships in that period. He has a coaching record of 234-38 (86 percent).

The Mustangs played in eight state championship games and won titles in 1992, 1993, 1999, and 2007.

Moore's sons, Kellen and Kirby, were not able to attend the induction ceremony because their Boise State University football team was celebrating its Jan. 4 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl victory over Texas Christian University on the same evening.

The Coaches Hall of Fame inductees are determined by a vote of the surviving members of the Hall. With the addition of the three new inductees, there are 132 members.