By Nick Bromberg
At an age when many start thinking about retirement, Alan Moore is restarting his football career.
Moore, a 61 year-old Vietnam veteran, will kick this fall for Faulkner University, a small Christian school in Montgomery, Ala., 43 years after his initial college career was cut short by Vietnam. When he takes the field against Ave Maria on Sept. 10, Moore will be the oldest player ever to take the field for a four-year university.
Moore was only able to play his freshman year at Jones County (Miss.) Junior College before heading off to Vietnam for 11 months [in 1968]. Watching a football game in 2009 inspired him to purchase footballs, build goal posts in his daughter's back yard, and practice kicking.
Last year Moore was turned away in an attempt to try out for Jones' team but did end up making the team at Holmes (Miss.) Community College after being referred by the head coach's aunt. Ironically, he made an appearance for Holmes against Jones County.
Moore is the first sexagenarian football player on record at any level. George Blanda was 48 when he retired from the NFL after his career as a quarterback and kicker. In 2004, 39-year-old Tim Frisby successfully walked on at South Carolina as a wide receiver. "Pops" Frisby was also a veteran, spending time as a U.S. Army Ranger in the first Gulf War. Even on television, Gerald "Major Dad" McRaney was only in his 40s when he guest-starred as a veteran giving college football one last shot in the old sitcom "Coach."
However, Moore still has 13 years to go to top Ken Mink, who was 73 when he played for the Roane State (Tenn.) basketball team in 2008 in the Tennessee Junior Community College Athletic Association. Has there ever been an official verdict on social security as an "improper benefit"?
