Nat Moore
Encyclopedia
Nathaniel "Nat" Moore is a former American college and professional football
player who was a wide receiver
in the National Football League
(NFL) for thirteen seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. Moore played college football
for the University of Florida
, and thereafter, he played professionally for the Miami Dolphins
of the NFL. He is best known as a favorite passing target of Dolphins quarterback
s Bob Griese
and Dan Marino
.
in 1951. He grew up in Miami, Florida
and attended Miami Edison Senior High School and Miami-Dade Community College.
to transfer from the University of Tennessee at Martin to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
, where he was a star running back
for coach Doug Dickey
's Florida Gators football
team in 1972 and 1973. As a junior in 1972, Moore led the Gators with 145 rushes for 845 yards and nine rushing touchdowns, twenty-five receptions for 351 receiving yards and four touchdown catches, and 230 return yards, while earning first-team All-Southeastern Conference
(SEC) and honorable mention All-American accolades.
Moore graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree
in exercise and sports science in 1975, and he was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1978.
, and he played for the Dolphins for thirteen seasons from to . He was elected to the Pro Bowl
in , after a season in which he made fifty-two receptions
and led the league with twelve receiving touchdown
s (he also had a rushing touchdown that year). Nat Moore is immortalized in the famous "Helicopter Catch" video clip—while making a reception against the New York Jets
in Giants Stadium
in , he was hit simultaneously from opposite directions by two Jets tacklers sending his body spinning into the air. The catch was a crucial third-down conversion, leading to a score and a come-from-behind win in a closely contested divisional game.
By the time Moore retired at the end of , his thirteenth season with the Dolphins, he had broken almost every receiving record of the Dolphins; his team records, however, were subsequently broken by Dolphins wide receivers Mark Clayton and Mark Duper
in the 1980s and 1990s.
His final career receiving statistics were 510 catches for 7,547 yards and seventy-four touchdowns. He also rushed for 249 yards and a touchdown, returned twenty-seven punts for 297 yards, and gained 856 yards on thirty-three kickoff returns.
Humanitarian Award in 1986. He created The Nat Moore Foundation, an organization which works with disadvantaged youths in the Miami-Dade County
area, in 1998.
On December 5, 1999 he was added to the Miami Dolphins Honor Roll
.
Moore was a football broadcaster
for Florida Gators football games on Sun Sports
until 2011. As an announcer, he was notorious for adding an "s" to the last names of various players (Chris Leak became "Chris Leaks," Percy Harvin became "Harvins," etc.) In addition, he teams with Bob Griese to provide television analysis of preseason Dolphins games. He also owns a sports promotions firm, Nat Moore & Associates, Inc. He is a vice president in the Miami Dolphins organization and oversees the Miami Dolphins Alumni Association, and also serves as the executive director of the NFL Super Bowl Football Clinic.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player who was a wide receiver
Wide receiver
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...
in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL) for thirteen seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. Moore played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
for the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, and thereafter, he played professionally for the Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
of the NFL. He is best known as a favorite passing target of Dolphins quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
s Bob Griese
Bob Griese
Robert Allen "Bob" Griese is a former American collegiate and Professional Football quarterback who earned All-American honors with the Purdue Boilermakers before being drafted in 1967 by the American Football League's Miami Dolphins...
and Dan Marino
Dan Marino
Daniel Constantine "Dan" Marino, Jr. is a retired American football quarterback who played for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League...
.
Early years
Moore was born in Tallahassee, FloridaTallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
in 1951. He grew up in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
and attended Miami Edison Senior High School and Miami-Dade Community College.
College career
On the recommendation of his junior college football coach, Moore received an athletic scholarshipAthletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...
to transfer from the University of Tennessee at Martin to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
, where he was a star running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
for coach Doug Dickey
Doug Dickey
Douglas Adair "Doug" Dickey is a former American college football player and coach and college athletics administrator. Dickey is a South Dakota native who was raised in Florida and graduated from the University of Florida, where he played college football...
's Florida Gators football
Florida Gators football
The Florida Gators football team represents the University of Florida in the sport of American football. The Florida Gators compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference...
team in 1972 and 1973. As a junior in 1972, Moore led the Gators with 145 rushes for 845 yards and nine rushing touchdowns, twenty-five receptions for 351 receiving yards and four touchdown catches, and 230 return yards, while earning first-team All-Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC) and honorable mention All-American accolades.
Moore graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in exercise and sports science in 1975, and he was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1978.
Professional career
Moore was chosen by the Miami Dolphins in the third round (seventy-eighth pick overall) of the 1974 NFL Draft1974 NFL Draft
The 1974 National Football League Draft took place at the Americana Hotel in New York City on January 29–30, 1974. Each of the 26 NFL teams was granted 17 selections for a total of 442 picks....
, and he played for the Dolphins for thirteen seasons from to . He was elected to the Pro Bowl
Pro Bowl
In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...
in , after a season in which he made fifty-two receptions
Reception (American football)
In American football, a reception is part of a play in which a forward pass from behind the line of scrimmage is received by a player in bounds, who, after the catch, proceeds to either score a touchdown or be downed. Yards gained from the receiving play are credited to the player as receiving...
and led the league with twelve receiving touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
s (he also had a rushing touchdown that year). Nat Moore is immortalized in the famous "Helicopter Catch" video clip—while making a reception against the New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
in Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...
in , he was hit simultaneously from opposite directions by two Jets tacklers sending his body spinning into the air. The catch was a crucial third-down conversion, leading to a score and a come-from-behind win in a closely contested divisional game.
By the time Moore retired at the end of , his thirteenth season with the Dolphins, he had broken almost every receiving record of the Dolphins; his team records, however, were subsequently broken by Dolphins wide receivers Mark Clayton and Mark Duper
Mark Duper
Mark Super Duper is a former American football wide receiver who played for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League from 1982 to 1992. He played collegiately at Northwestern State University and was selected by the Dolphins in the 2nd round of the 1982 NFL Draft...
in the 1980s and 1990s.
His final career receiving statistics were 510 catches for 7,547 yards and seventy-four touchdowns. He also rushed for 249 yards and a touchdown, returned twenty-seven punts for 297 yards, and gained 856 yards on thirty-three kickoff returns.
Life "after football"
Moore is also known for his humanitarian work and philanthropy. In , the NFL voted Moore as "Man of the Year," an honor given to a player who gives outstanding service to his community. Moore also received the Byron WhiteByron White
Byron Raymond "Whizzer" White won fame both as a football halfback and as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Appointed to the court by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, he served until his retirement in 1993...
Humanitarian Award in 1986. He created The Nat Moore Foundation, an organization which works with disadvantaged youths in the Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...
area, in 1998.
On December 5, 1999 he was added to the Miami Dolphins Honor Roll
The Miami Dolphin Honor Roll
The Miami Dolphin Honor Roll is a ring around the second tier at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, which honors former players, coaches, contributors, and officials who have made significant contributions to the Miami Dolphins franchise....
.
Moore was a football broadcaster
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
for Florida Gators football games on Sun Sports
Sun Sports
Sun Sports is a Florida sports broadcasting network, with its headquarters in Orlando. Launched in 1988 as Sunshine Network, the station is now affiliated with virtually every cable company throughout the state of Florida and can be picked up by some satellite providers around the United...
until 2011. As an announcer, he was notorious for adding an "s" to the last names of various players (Chris Leak became "Chris Leaks," Percy Harvin became "Harvins," etc.) In addition, he teams with Bob Griese to provide television analysis of preseason Dolphins games. He also owns a sports promotions firm, Nat Moore & Associates, Inc. He is a vice president in the Miami Dolphins organization and oversees the Miami Dolphins Alumni Association, and also serves as the executive director of the NFL Super Bowl Football Clinic.
See also
- Florida GatorsFlorida GatorsThe Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams...
- Florida Gators football, 1970–1979
- List of Florida Gators football players
- List of Miami Dolphins players
- List of University of Florida alumni