Coach G.A. Moore
The "All Time Winningest Coach" in Texas High School Football History.
 Coach G.A. Moore, Jr.
The "All Time Winningest Coach" in Texas High School Football History.
430-97-9
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Coach Moore graduated from Pilot Point High School 19 1957, where he earned 16 letters in football, basketball, track and baseball. He was named All State in football and basketball and received a football scholarship to NTSU. He graduated from NTSU in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science degree and started his coaching career.
1962- Graduated from NTSU and took the head coaching job at Bryson High School. Bryson had a 21 game losing streak. In the first game Bryson played a team that had beaten them 76-0 the previous year. Bryson won that game and went on to be 5-5 that year.
1963- Went home to Pilot Point where the Bearcats had not had a winning season in 6 years. In the first game Pilot Point defeated a team who had beaten them in the previous year 58-28. During the next eight years Pilot Point became one of the better 2A teams in the country.
1967- Received Masters of Education degree from NTSU.
1971- Out of coaching.
1972- Took over as head coach at Celina High School. In the next five years he went 52-5-2 winning his first State Championship in 1974.
1977- Went back to Pilot Point and took over a team that was 1-9 the previous year. During the next nine years the Bearcats were 106-9-3 including back to back State Championships in 1980 and 1981.
1986- Went to Sherman High School and took over a 0-10 class 5A program. In the first game Sherman defeated Gainesville (ranked 4th in the state in 4A) 10-0. Sherman went 6-4 on the season and Coach Moore was named Dallas Area Coach of the Year.
1988- Went back to Celina who had not won a district championship in 10 years. In the first year Celina not only went on to win district, but went to the state semi-finals. During the next 14 years he won 163 and lost 22. Celina won 5 State Championships including a state record 4 in a row (tied with Sealy). When he left Celina he had a 57 game winning streak.
2002- Returned home to Pilot Point as Athletic Director and Head Football Coach.
2005-2008- Out of coaching
2009- Went to Aubrey
Bearcats defense nets Moore win
By Richard Greene Assistant Editor Pilot Point's defense made sure G.A. Moore added another milestone to his resume Friday night. The Bearcats' defense and special teams forced four turnovers, leading Pilot Point to a 24-14 victory over Lake Dallas in the non-district finale at Falcon Stadium. The victory was the 400th in Moore's 41-year coaching career. Moore (400-77-9), who broke former Brownwood coach Gordon Wood's Texas high school record for career victories last season, became only the third coach in the nation to win 400 games. "It feels good because we won the game," said Moore, who downplayed the 400th win. "This team has gotten better each week. "I've been very blessed to be associated with the people I have." The Pilot Point defense, which had struggled in the last three games, limited the potent Lake Dallas offense to 211 yards and only one score. The Bearcats' defensive front, led by end Jeremy Hammonds, kept pressure on Lake Dallas quarterback Chris Webb all night, sacking him five times for -42 yards. Hammonds gathered three of the sacks. Webb hit 13 of his 22 pass attempts for 180 yards. "I had a blast out there; I think the whole defense did," Hammonds said. "Going into the game, we knew we had to get pressure on him and could not give him any time to throw." The Bearcats defense was also opportunistic. With Lake Dallas leading 14-11, freshman defensive tackle Joe Vine picked up a fumble by Webb at the 48 and outran everyone, getting a block inside the 5 from Hammonds to score with :23 left in the third quarter. "I just saw the ball and grabbed it," said Vine, who was playing his second varsity game. "I thought someone was going to catch me from behind." Pilot Point (3-2) added a 2-yard run by quarterback Josh LeBlanc in the fourth quarter to seal the win. LeBlanc finished with 33 yards on 15 carries and scored twice. He also completed six of his 14 pass attempts for 131 yards. He was picked off twice. Lake Dallas' Daniel Oppong intercepted both passes. He made his second pick at the start of the second half and returned the ball 45 yards. Oppong fumbled the ball at the 2 into the end zone, where Kenyard Jackson recovered it, giving Lake Dallas (2-3) the lead at 14-11.
For G.A. Moore, fame will endure
By Rebecca Hertz
Staff Writer
G.A. Moore will reach the pinnacle of his 50-year coaching career with induction into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco as the “winningest high school football coach in state history.”
Moore will be part of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2011 which will be inducted in February.
Moore, a native of Pilot Point who is currently the head football coach at Aubrey, started his coaching career at Bryson in 1962. He has compiled a record of 429-97-9 and has won eight state championships, including two at Pilot Point. He has coached in Bryson, Sherman, Celina, Pilot Point — three times — and Aubrey.
The Class of 2011 includes such Texas sports greats as Mack Brown, the current head coach at the University of Texas; football legends Tobin Rote, Bubba Smith, Lovie Smith and Andre Ware; and golfer Fred Couples.
Moore, who was listed on four straight Hall of Fame ballots, said he didn’t deserve to be inducted with the other 2011 selections.
“There are people in there who have been my heroes all my live,” Moore said in an interview at his home in the Mustang Community, surrounded by too many awards and trophies to count.
The award will be in good company. Moore was inducted into the North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Texas High School Coaches Hall of Honor (1998).
“This is the biggest honor by far,” he said.
Moore takes nothing for granted about his winning record, his career, or his life. While the path of his journey may not have followed the plan he envisioned, it led him right where he needed to be.
“I wasn’t the biggest guy and I got bunged up (playing),” he said. “But the greatest experience a person has is to play sports, get an education and to coach. It’s not at all like work.”
All he ever wanted to do as a youngster was play ball. He said he was lucky to grow up with others who wanted to play sports.
Moore graduated from Pilot Point High School in 1957, earning 16 letters in football, basketball, track and baseball. He attended North Texas State University on a football scholarship and received a bachelors of science degree in 1962.
Any thoughts Moore had of pursuing a professional football career ended with a broken wrist in his sophomore year at North Texas. His wrist was in a cast for 13 months, and he reinjured it when he tried to return to play. He then set his future on coaching.
“I thought about college coaching, but the problem was that I was raised right here and I didn’t want to move,” Moore said. “The Lord works things out. It’s a miracle I got to coach and still live right here.”
Moore was born and raised in the Mustang Community southeast of Pilot Point. He still lives on the land that his grandfather and uncle bought in 1912. His house sits on the spot where the roping pen was when he was growing up.
“Next year will be 100 years my family has been here,” Moore said. “I still go down and sit under trees I sat under in high school. I wanted to coach at Pilot Point where I went to high school and make Pilot Point the high school football capital.”
He said returning to Pilot Point in 1963 was a dream come true.
Coaching for him has been a reciprocal experience: For all he gives, there is so much he receives in return.
“Seeing these kids — I call them all kids — eight or 10 years down the road and they are successful,” he said. “I try to get them to be the best they can be and apply those athletic principals to later life. Winning at football and being successful in life.”
The saddest thing he has done for past players is to speak at their funerals. He said that it is hard, but it’s a privilege too.
Moore may have had the rare opportunity to live his passion every day, and while things fell into place over the years, there were times when he felt pulled in other directions.
“One time in life that turned me around was in 1970-71 when I left Pilot Point and I thought I was being called in the ministry,” he said.
He was ill with mono and in bed for two weeks in “the dead of winter.” Left to his own ponderings during that period, he concluded that the ministry was where he should be. He took a job as principal in Celina and prepared to go to seminary.
“I gave up coaching football. I had my priorities messed up – football was too high on the list,” he said.
He was offered the position of head coach in Celina but turned it down.
“I said ‘no’ to the job,” he said. “I was going to be a preacher. But I probably wouldn’t have been very good at it.”
Celina asked Moore to write out a description of the perfect job and offered the position again with everything on his wish list. Driving back home from Celina one day, he and his wife Lois Ann discussed the job offer; she said she had been praying about it and told him, “I think we need to be coaches.”
“From that time on, things in my coaching career were unreal,” Moore said. “I have been blessed by every measure in winning games and coaching good kids, but the winning came when I got things straight with the Lord. It wasn’t about my ability.”
He and Lois Ann met at Pilot Point High School when he was a senior and she was a freshman, but they didn’t start dating until college. They have been married for 50 years. She still teaches in Celina as an elementary reading specialist.
Moore didn’t join the ministry, but did become ordained and conducted the marriage ceremony for one of his daughters. He said that was one thing he never imagined he would do. He and Lois Ann have three daughters and one son, who coaches with him in Aubrey. He has coached his own children in sports over the years.
Moore retired from Pilot Point in 2004 after his third stint as the Bearcats’ head coach. Pilot Point won state championships in 1980 and 1981 after he returned from Celina in 1976.
“I thought I was getting old and didn’t have the energy anymore. I didn’t plan on getting old,” he said, adding that his doctors found a blockage in his heart. “They put in two stents, and when I got over that I felt better than I had in years.”
Moore was ready to return to coaching, but Pilot Point had already hired a coach so he “ran cattle for four years.”
Then Daryl Hellman, the Aubrey ISD head football coach at the time, approached him about coming to Aubrey High School.
Being able to resume his passion and staying in the community he loves have given Moore the best of all worlds. The success is just the icing on the cake. And over the years, he has seen a lot of changes in the schools that have presented him with new challenges.
“I don’t think the kids have changed; parents have changed,” Moore said. “Mom and daddy back the kid rather than the administration, teachers and coaches who are with the kids every day.
“Coaches need help. They can’t win without the assistance and support of the community.”
These days, retirement doesn’t even cross his mind.
“From here on, we’ll see what happens,” he said. “This award ought to belong to the towns where I coached the kids and associated with the parents.
“I got to be a part of it and went along for the ride. It’s been a great one.”
G.A. Moore will add the Texas Sports Hall of Fame award to similar honors he has received during his coaching career
1962 Bryson 5-5-0
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1963 Pilot Point 6-3-0
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1964 Pilot Point 7-3-0
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1965 Pilot Point 8-1-2
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1966 Pilot Point 5-5-0
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1967 Pilot Point 5-4-1
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1968 Pilot Point 10-1-0
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1969 Pilot Point 8-2-0
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1970 Pilot Point 7-3-0
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1971 Out of Coaching
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1972 Celina 8-1-1
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1973 Celina 9-1-0
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1974 Celina 13-1-1
State Co-Champion
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1975 Celina 13-1-0
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1976 Celina 9-1-0
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1977 Pilot Point 7-3-0
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1978 Pilot Point 9-1-0
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1979 Pilot Point 11-1-1
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1980 Pilot Point 14-0-1
State Co-Champion
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1981 Pilot Point 15-0-0
State Champion
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1982 Pilot Point 12-1-0
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1983 Pilot Point 11-1-1
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1984 Pilot Point 10-1-0
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1985 Pilot Point 13-1-0
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1986 Sherman 6-4-0
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1987 Sherman 6-4-0
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1988 Celina 13-2-0
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1989 Celina 8-3-0
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1990 Celina 9-1-1
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1991 Celina 8-2-0
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1992 Celina 8-3-0
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1993 Celina 7-3-0
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1994 Celina 11-1-0
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1995 Celina 15-1-0
State Champion
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1996 Celina 11-1-0
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1997 Celina 11-3-0
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1998 Celina 14-2-0
State Champion
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1999 Celina 16-0-0
State Champion
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2000 Celina 16-0-0
State Champion
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2001 Celina 16-0-0
State Champion
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2002 Pilot Point 7-4-0
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2003 Pilot Point 7-5-0
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2004 Pilot Point 8-3-0
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2005 out of coaching
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2006 Out of coaching
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2007 Out of coaching
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2008 Out of coaching
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2009 Aubrey 11-2-0
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2010 Aubrey 4-6-0
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2011 Aubrey 4-6
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Most championships
Coach
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School
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Titles
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Gordon Wood
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Brownwood, Stamford
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9
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G.A. Moore
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Celina, Pilot Point
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*8
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Art Briles
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Stephenville
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4
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Joe Golding
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Wichita Falls
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4
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T.J. Mills
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Sealy
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4
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Paul Tyson
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Waco
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4
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D.W. Rutledge
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Converse Judson
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**4
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Danny Medina
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Fort Hancock
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4
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*includes two co-championships.
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**includes 1988 forfeit win over Dallas Carter.
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