You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but when that dog learned that trick in the 1960s, there’s a good shot it can still do it. Alan Moore is throwing a college football jersey back on this weekend and will hit the field for the first time since the Vietnam draft.
Moore, 61, played football for Holmes Community College in the late 60s. His glory days came to an end in 1969 when he decided to join the army. Now, more than four decades later, he is giving himself a chance to finish his college football career by kicking for Faulkner University.
Moore told Reuters:
“I came back to play football. I know I can do it. When I walked into Dick’s Sporting Goods store, it was the first football I had touched in 40 years.”
Moore was laid off in 2009 and decided to start training to play football again. Moore says that he wants to inspire young people to never give up.
Moore said:
“It is not about me, it is about we, and I know I can motivate kids.”
The 61-year-old is taking a 12-hour workload this semester and is living in the dorms with the rest of his classmates and teammates at Faulkner University in Alabama.
Moore says that he chose Faulkner because they treated him like family, even if he that means that he is the grandpa.
Moore told the New York Daily News:
“There’s certainly a generational gap with the kids. They call me a little bit of everything- ‘grandpa,’ ‘old man,’ ‘old school,’ ‘pops,’ ‘grand-daddy.’ But I don’t mind it. I eat it up. I’m having a ball.”
Faulkner will get his first chance to kick in public this weekend at a team scrimmage. Will the 61-year-old’s knee make it through an entire game?
