sophandros
Free Thinker
In today's world where you can't pick up the paper without a story about an athlete--too often an African American athlete--who is a horrible citizen or a bad role model for kids, we need to prop up and show support for the guys who exemplify what it means to be a student athlete when in college and a citizen when they are in the pros. You will hear Mewelde Moore's name called on the first day of the NFL draft, and for those of you who haven't seen him play or who don't follow Tulane (which I would venture is just about everyone here who doesn't live in LA or support SU), here's a guy that we can look forward to seeing represent Louisiana on the next level. I'm proud that this young man represents my school and my home state, and I'm more proud that he refuses to succumb to the stereotypical images of young Black men and athletes.
http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-6/106931178595720.xml
Faith-based initiative
Wave's all-time leading rusher deals with adversity, success with his devout religious beliefs
Thursday November 20, 2003
By Josh Peter
Staff writer
Tuesday. 1:10 p.m. The Tulane running backs meeting.
Inside that small room, as assistant coach Greg Davis flipped off the light switch, something flipped on inside Mewelde Moore. Davis cued the videotape of Tulane's next opponent, and Moore's eyes zeroed in on the screen, laser-like, sizing up Tulane's opponent for its season finale, a game in which Moore will not play.
It's over for Moore, the school's all-time leading rusher, whose senior season and record-setting career ended Nov. 1 when he dove for a pass and broke his left hand. Yet there he was Tuesday, gathered with the other running backs studying a game tape of East Carolina, as if the Tulane-East Carolina football game scheduled to kick off at 1:30 p.m. Saturday already had kicked off inside his head.
"Watch No. 40, Shaq," Moore said to Jovon "Shaq" Jackson, the sophomore who has taken over as the team's starting running back. "That's the No. 1 person you want to look at on the film."
"He's probably the best player on their defense right now," Davis confirmed.
And a minute later . . .
"This week there might be a backdoor cut because they're flowing," Moore said, seeing something in East Carolina's defense. "You heard that, Shaq? I'd be looking for that backdoor cut big."
Vision. In the film room and on the football field, Mewelde Moore has special vision. The running backs meeting Tuesday offered yet more proof that he sees things faster than his teammates do. Sees things other people miss altogether. And, sometimes, simply sees things differently than the rest of us do.
Take his broken hand, for example. While most Tulane fans view the injury as a cruel ending to a spectacular collegiate football career, Moore sees this: an opportunity to make up for something he's failed to do.
Though he'll gladly discuss that failure, perhaps his most painful failure in four years at Tulane, he'd prefer to let his actions speak for him. What's important to know is Moore believes he is part of a larger plan -- God's plan. And whether one believes in that plan, or even believes there even is such a plan, no one can deny Moore's playing career at Tulane ended with an eerie twist.
Oct. 31. Annapolis, Md. Following dinner, a players-only meeting.
Breaking out of a mini-slump, Moore had rushed for more than 100 yards in the past four games -- a bittersweet consolation considering the Green Wave had lost all four games. Now, on the evening of Tulane's game against Navy, Moore felt compelled to speak. And so he did, from the heart.
"What God says goes, and tomorrow is not promised to you," Moore said, and for five minutes he talked about the importance of seizing the opportunity of today because no one knew what was coming tomorrow.
It was as if Moore was speaking words he, as much as his teammates, needed to hear. Because that next day, with Tulane on its way to a fifth consecutive loss, Moore dove for a pass and broke his left hand.
Amidst the pain and disappointment, Moore began to think about what he'd told his teammates the night before. About God not promising tomorrow. About making the most of today. And so he set out to make the most of this:
That following Wednesday, two doctors told Moore that his broken hand would require surgery and he should not play in the team's remaining three regular-season games. With the Green Wave's bowl hopes looking slim, it meant Moore's playing career at Tulane likely was over.
It also meant he wouldn't win a conference championship. Wouldn't play in a marquee bowl game. Wouldn't rush for more than 1,000 yards for the third straight season. Wouldn't do so many of the things he'd hoped to accomplish after deciding to delay a possible career in the NFL and return to Tulane for his senior season.
But to think his Tulane football career was over? Not by a long shot, Moore decided.
That same day he learned he'd need surgery and at least three weeks to rehabilitate, Moore, whom one might have thought needed cheering up, went to cheer up Tulane's coaches.
"Jovon's ready," he told them, referring to Tulane's backup running back. "You'll see. It's Jovon's time."
Moore was right, of course.
Nov. 6. Birmingham, Ala. On Legion Field, the Tulane victory celebration.
Moore's understudy, Jackson, had just rushed for 183 yards -- eclipsing Moore's highest single-game total of the season -- and scored two touchdowns. And so, with their star running back on the sideline, the Green Wave had upset Alabama-Birmingham 38-24 and ended its five-game losing streak.
It was virtually impossible to find Moore, because he was somewhere in the middle of the joyous celebration.
"It's time for them to show what they can do," Moore said later of Jackson and the other running backs. "It's time for them to make some memories of their own."
That next Tuesday, Moore underwent surgery to repair the fracture of the second metacarpal of his left hand. Two days later, Tulane coach Chris Scelfo said he was unsure if Moore would make the team's trip that Saturday to Southern Miss.
Scelfo might have been the only one unsure. Moore said he never considered missing the game.
That Saturday, on the field during warmups, he looked up at the small section of M.M. Roberts Stadium reserved for the visiting Tulane fans and discovered someone else had no intention of missing the game. Moore's mother and grandmother had driven from their home in Baton Rouge to Hattiesburg, Miss., for the express purpose of watching Moore not play.
"It doesn't matter if he's playing or not playing," said Sandra Moore, Mewelde's mother. "What matters is he's being supportive of the team and I'm being supportive of him."
After briefly visiting with his mother, Moore visited with Brent Israel, among Tulane's most ardent fans. Israel, 18, has spina bifida and is bound to a wheelchair. His greatest joy in life is Tulane football, and he watches all of their home and away games from a prized spot on the Green Wave's sideline.
"We need to help get the guys extra pumped up today," Moore told him.
Israel nodded. "How's your hand, Mewelde," Israel said, fighting a stutter to get the words out.
"It's all right. But I wish I could be out there," he said, looking at the crisply lined football field.
Israel smiled.
"Well, I wish I were in your shoes," he said. "That way, I would be the world-famous Mewelde Moore."
The words staggered Moore. They made him think, and reminded him about how blessed he is -- even with the injury. How blessed he is at age 22. And he continued to think about what Brent Israel told him, even in the aftermath of Tulane's 28-14 loss to Southern Miss.
The loss that eliminated Tulane from bowl contention and guaranteed the Green Wave of finishing with a losing record. And yet through the eyes of Brent Israel, this supposedly devastating loss looked less and less devastating to Moore.
Tuesday. 11:50 a.m. The Tulane athletics center.
More than an hour before the scheduled running backs meeting, into the building walked Moore. Other than the bulky cast, it was the same old Mewelde -- wearing those neat, thin braids and that broad, open-faced smile.
As always, he'd come straight from his Advanced Financial Management class. Moore is on schedule to graduate this spring with a double major in accounting and finance.
"I'll be upstairs in coach's office," he said.
That means Greg Davis' office. The same office where Moore has reported for lunch Tuesday through Friday since two-a-day practices, always arriving about 30 minutes ahead of the other running backs.
As Moore dug into his lunch of beef fajitas -- "Want a piece of fajita, anybody?" he asked, twice -- he and Davis chatted. During two-a-days, Moore napped on Davis' office couch instead of going back to the dorms. When he woke up, he'd pop in a game tape and start watching film on a future opponent.
"I figure the more I'm around football, the more I can pick up," said Moore, who received a scholarship to Tulane only after another recruit reneged on his commitment on the morning of signing day. "Extra pointers. Tips. Anything that can help me."
In addition to football knowledge, Moore has accumulated a wealth of school records -- 24 in all, including most rushing yards (4,364), most 100-yard rushing games (22) and most all-purpose yards (6,505) -- while becoming only the second player in Division I-A history to amass more than 4,000 yards rushing and 2,000 yards receiving.
All the records, and yet Tuesday, Moore still sounded frustrated about something. For four years, Moore said, he's tried to demonstrate that he played not for records, personal glory or the fortune he might make in the NFL, but for God.
He does not wear a diamond-encrusted cross -- or any visible cross, for that matter.
He does not wear one of those "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets.
He does not preach to his teammates or strangers.
But he does have two Bibles, one by his laptop computer and the other usually in his car -- "So I always have it if I need it," he said.
And after each of his 36 touchdowns at Tulane, he has offered the same tribute: on one knee, head bowed, Moore closes his eyes in brief prayer. Then he taps his chest twice, uses sign language to form the word "love" with each hand and points heavenward with each index finger.
It is Moore's way of sending God a message: "I love you."
For four years at Tulane, after victory or defeat, Moore has taken a moment during most interviews to say how grateful he is to God. For four years, Moore said, the thought rarely has made it into newspaper articles or TV reports.
Oddly, as Moore ends his illustrious career on the sideline, he saw an opportunity to show once and for all that he plays for the love of the game and for God. For here he is, not playing, and still in the middle of it all.
Saturday at the Superdome, Tulane will honor Moore during a special halftime tribute. He's grateful for the sendoff. But he said he wants Tulane fans to know something he's been trying to tell them for four years.
While they're paying tribute to Mewelde Moore, he'll be paying tribute to someone else.
. . . . . . .
Josh Peter can be reached at jpeter@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3407.
http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-6/106931178595720.xml
Faith-based initiative
Wave's all-time leading rusher deals with adversity, success with his devout religious beliefs
Thursday November 20, 2003
By Josh Peter
Staff writer
Tuesday. 1:10 p.m. The Tulane running backs meeting.
Inside that small room, as assistant coach Greg Davis flipped off the light switch, something flipped on inside Mewelde Moore. Davis cued the videotape of Tulane's next opponent, and Moore's eyes zeroed in on the screen, laser-like, sizing up Tulane's opponent for its season finale, a game in which Moore will not play.
It's over for Moore, the school's all-time leading rusher, whose senior season and record-setting career ended Nov. 1 when he dove for a pass and broke his left hand. Yet there he was Tuesday, gathered with the other running backs studying a game tape of East Carolina, as if the Tulane-East Carolina football game scheduled to kick off at 1:30 p.m. Saturday already had kicked off inside his head.
"Watch No. 40, Shaq," Moore said to Jovon "Shaq" Jackson, the sophomore who has taken over as the team's starting running back. "That's the No. 1 person you want to look at on the film."
"He's probably the best player on their defense right now," Davis confirmed.
And a minute later . . .
"This week there might be a backdoor cut because they're flowing," Moore said, seeing something in East Carolina's defense. "You heard that, Shaq? I'd be looking for that backdoor cut big."
Vision. In the film room and on the football field, Mewelde Moore has special vision. The running backs meeting Tuesday offered yet more proof that he sees things faster than his teammates do. Sees things other people miss altogether. And, sometimes, simply sees things differently than the rest of us do.
Take his broken hand, for example. While most Tulane fans view the injury as a cruel ending to a spectacular collegiate football career, Moore sees this: an opportunity to make up for something he's failed to do.
Though he'll gladly discuss that failure, perhaps his most painful failure in four years at Tulane, he'd prefer to let his actions speak for him. What's important to know is Moore believes he is part of a larger plan -- God's plan. And whether one believes in that plan, or even believes there even is such a plan, no one can deny Moore's playing career at Tulane ended with an eerie twist.
Oct. 31. Annapolis, Md. Following dinner, a players-only meeting.
Breaking out of a mini-slump, Moore had rushed for more than 100 yards in the past four games -- a bittersweet consolation considering the Green Wave had lost all four games. Now, on the evening of Tulane's game against Navy, Moore felt compelled to speak. And so he did, from the heart.
"What God says goes, and tomorrow is not promised to you," Moore said, and for five minutes he talked about the importance of seizing the opportunity of today because no one knew what was coming tomorrow.
It was as if Moore was speaking words he, as much as his teammates, needed to hear. Because that next day, with Tulane on its way to a fifth consecutive loss, Moore dove for a pass and broke his left hand.
Amidst the pain and disappointment, Moore began to think about what he'd told his teammates the night before. About God not promising tomorrow. About making the most of today. And so he set out to make the most of this:
That following Wednesday, two doctors told Moore that his broken hand would require surgery and he should not play in the team's remaining three regular-season games. With the Green Wave's bowl hopes looking slim, it meant Moore's playing career at Tulane likely was over.
It also meant he wouldn't win a conference championship. Wouldn't play in a marquee bowl game. Wouldn't rush for more than 1,000 yards for the third straight season. Wouldn't do so many of the things he'd hoped to accomplish after deciding to delay a possible career in the NFL and return to Tulane for his senior season.
But to think his Tulane football career was over? Not by a long shot, Moore decided.
That same day he learned he'd need surgery and at least three weeks to rehabilitate, Moore, whom one might have thought needed cheering up, went to cheer up Tulane's coaches.
"Jovon's ready," he told them, referring to Tulane's backup running back. "You'll see. It's Jovon's time."
Moore was right, of course.
Nov. 6. Birmingham, Ala. On Legion Field, the Tulane victory celebration.
Moore's understudy, Jackson, had just rushed for 183 yards -- eclipsing Moore's highest single-game total of the season -- and scored two touchdowns. And so, with their star running back on the sideline, the Green Wave had upset Alabama-Birmingham 38-24 and ended its five-game losing streak.
It was virtually impossible to find Moore, because he was somewhere in the middle of the joyous celebration.
"It's time for them to show what they can do," Moore said later of Jackson and the other running backs. "It's time for them to make some memories of their own."
That next Tuesday, Moore underwent surgery to repair the fracture of the second metacarpal of his left hand. Two days later, Tulane coach Chris Scelfo said he was unsure if Moore would make the team's trip that Saturday to Southern Miss.
Scelfo might have been the only one unsure. Moore said he never considered missing the game.
That Saturday, on the field during warmups, he looked up at the small section of M.M. Roberts Stadium reserved for the visiting Tulane fans and discovered someone else had no intention of missing the game. Moore's mother and grandmother had driven from their home in Baton Rouge to Hattiesburg, Miss., for the express purpose of watching Moore not play.
"It doesn't matter if he's playing or not playing," said Sandra Moore, Mewelde's mother. "What matters is he's being supportive of the team and I'm being supportive of him."
After briefly visiting with his mother, Moore visited with Brent Israel, among Tulane's most ardent fans. Israel, 18, has spina bifida and is bound to a wheelchair. His greatest joy in life is Tulane football, and he watches all of their home and away games from a prized spot on the Green Wave's sideline.
"We need to help get the guys extra pumped up today," Moore told him.
Israel nodded. "How's your hand, Mewelde," Israel said, fighting a stutter to get the words out.
"It's all right. But I wish I could be out there," he said, looking at the crisply lined football field.
Israel smiled.
"Well, I wish I were in your shoes," he said. "That way, I would be the world-famous Mewelde Moore."
The words staggered Moore. They made him think, and reminded him about how blessed he is -- even with the injury. How blessed he is at age 22. And he continued to think about what Brent Israel told him, even in the aftermath of Tulane's 28-14 loss to Southern Miss.
The loss that eliminated Tulane from bowl contention and guaranteed the Green Wave of finishing with a losing record. And yet through the eyes of Brent Israel, this supposedly devastating loss looked less and less devastating to Moore.
Tuesday. 11:50 a.m. The Tulane athletics center.
More than an hour before the scheduled running backs meeting, into the building walked Moore. Other than the bulky cast, it was the same old Mewelde -- wearing those neat, thin braids and that broad, open-faced smile.
As always, he'd come straight from his Advanced Financial Management class. Moore is on schedule to graduate this spring with a double major in accounting and finance.
"I'll be upstairs in coach's office," he said.
That means Greg Davis' office. The same office where Moore has reported for lunch Tuesday through Friday since two-a-day practices, always arriving about 30 minutes ahead of the other running backs.
As Moore dug into his lunch of beef fajitas -- "Want a piece of fajita, anybody?" he asked, twice -- he and Davis chatted. During two-a-days, Moore napped on Davis' office couch instead of going back to the dorms. When he woke up, he'd pop in a game tape and start watching film on a future opponent.
"I figure the more I'm around football, the more I can pick up," said Moore, who received a scholarship to Tulane only after another recruit reneged on his commitment on the morning of signing day. "Extra pointers. Tips. Anything that can help me."
In addition to football knowledge, Moore has accumulated a wealth of school records -- 24 in all, including most rushing yards (4,364), most 100-yard rushing games (22) and most all-purpose yards (6,505) -- while becoming only the second player in Division I-A history to amass more than 4,000 yards rushing and 2,000 yards receiving.
All the records, and yet Tuesday, Moore still sounded frustrated about something. For four years, Moore said, he's tried to demonstrate that he played not for records, personal glory or the fortune he might make in the NFL, but for God.
He does not wear a diamond-encrusted cross -- or any visible cross, for that matter.
He does not wear one of those "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets.
He does not preach to his teammates or strangers.
But he does have two Bibles, one by his laptop computer and the other usually in his car -- "So I always have it if I need it," he said.
And after each of his 36 touchdowns at Tulane, he has offered the same tribute: on one knee, head bowed, Moore closes his eyes in brief prayer. Then he taps his chest twice, uses sign language to form the word "love" with each hand and points heavenward with each index finger.
It is Moore's way of sending God a message: "I love you."
For four years at Tulane, after victory or defeat, Moore has taken a moment during most interviews to say how grateful he is to God. For four years, Moore said, the thought rarely has made it into newspaper articles or TV reports.
Oddly, as Moore ends his illustrious career on the sideline, he saw an opportunity to show once and for all that he plays for the love of the game and for God. For here he is, not playing, and still in the middle of it all.
Saturday at the Superdome, Tulane will honor Moore during a special halftime tribute. He's grateful for the sendoff. But he said he wants Tulane fans to know something he's been trying to tell them for four years.
While they're paying tribute to Mewelde Moore, he'll be paying tribute to someone else.
. . . . . . .
Josh Peter can be reached at jpeter@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3407.