Tom Moore (April 14, 1914 in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

– May 10, 2002) was a

National Track and Field Hall of Fame The National Track and Field Hall of Fame is a museum operated by The Armory Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field. It is located within the Armory Foundation (the former Fort Washington Avenue Armory) at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

promoter, known for his decades of service as meet director of the

Modesto Relays The Modesto Relays, now known as the California Invitational Relays is an annual elite track and field meet. It is held about the second weekend in May. For 67 years, the meet was held at Modesto Junior College in Modesto, California, a track not ...

. As a hurdler for the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

, Moore tied the world record in the 120 yard high hurdles (the Imperial distance equivalent to the

110 metre hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hur ...

) at 14.2. Prior to running a Berkeley, he had run for

Sacramento City College Sacramento City College (SCC) is a public community college in Sacramento, California. SCC is part of the Los Rios Community College District and had an enrollment of 25,307 in 2009. It is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community ...

where he was coached by L.D. Weldon and at Petaluma High School. Both became early members of that institution's Hall of Fame. He was the 1935 United States Champion in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...

. Sports Illustrated shows a picture of him in

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

during the 1935 European season, helping carry injured sprinting prodigy

Eulace Peacock Eulace Peacock (August 27, 1914 – December 13, 1996) was an American track and field athlete in the 1930s. Peacock was born in Dothan, Alabama and raised in the Vauxhall section of Union Township, New Jersey, where he graduated from Union ...

off the track. Moore competed for the Olympic Club in the high hurdles and 220 yard hurdles into the 1940s. Toward the end of his running career in 1942, he was asked to help with a start up track and field event at

Modesto Junior College Modesto Junior College (MJC) is a public community college in Modesto, California. It is part of Yosemite Community College District along with Columbia College. MJC, and Columbia College, belong to the California Community College system al ...

. Moore served as the starter for the first meet for all but one race . . . the high hurdles, which he won. He had his running shorts on under his uniform and hastily changed to run. He gained a reputation as a top track and field official. For most of its 67-year run in Modesto Moore's name would go on to become synonymous with the event called the

. Moore did almost everything else to make the meet what it became, from attracting top name talent to adjusting the lights toward the track (rather than just the football field). Moore found sponsorship from S&W Foods that brought notoriety to the otherwise sleepy Central Valley town. When S&W dropped its sponsorship in 1994, Moore found a new sponsor in

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

. At that first meet in 1942, "Dutch" Warmerdam set a world record in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

with a bamboo pole. More than a decade later, Double Olympic Gold medalist,

Bob Richards Robert Eugene Richards (born February 20, 1926) is an American retired athlete, minister, and politician. He made three U.S. Olympic Teams in two events: the 1948, 1952, and 1956 Summer Olympics as a pole vaulter and as a decathlete in 1956. He ...

negotiated a $75 cash bonus, if he broke the meet record, which Moore agreed to. When Richards arrived, he discovered the meet record was the world record, which he never achieved in his career. He served as head of the

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...

's task force to select a bidding city for the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was elected into the

as an Event Director in 1988. In 2007, he was given the Howard Schmertz Lifetime Achievement Award by the U.S. Track Meet Directors Association. After his death in 2004, the Modesto Relays was renamed the "Tom Moore Modesto Relays."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Tom 1914 births 2002 deaths American male hurdlers American referees and umpires Athletics (track and field) officials California Golden Bears men's track and field athletes World record setters in athletics (track and field) Sportspeople from Berkeley, California Sportspeople from Modesto, California Track and field athletes from California Track and field people from California