Semoball

Derland Moore, who played for Saints and Sooners, dead at 68

DAR FILE/Stan Berry

Derland Moore, who played 14 seasons in the NFL and was an All-American defensive lineman at the University of Oklahoma, died Thursday night.

The Poplar Bluff native was 68.

Moore was a walk-on at Oklahoma after earning a track scholarship based on one meet that his father didn’t want him to attend because he had to work on the family farm.

Later, when Paul Moore was told by his son he wanted to quit after a few days of practice with the Sooners football team he gave Derland two choices.

“I could go back out and do my fighting on the football team or I’d have to fight him the next time I got home,” Derland once recalled.

“I chose the football team.”

Oklahoma won 29 of 35 games over Moore’s three years as a starter, but over 13 seasons in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints, he endured more than his fair share of losses.

“It started out like a Disney movie, then I got drafted by the New Orleans Saints and it turned into hell,” Moore once joked.

A 1969 graduate of Poplar Bluff High School, Moore played on the Mules undefeated team his sophomore year and was named second-team all-conference as a senior offensive lineman.

At the start of his senior year Moore was a 6-foot-4, 215-pound 16-year-old that, as he put it, “wasn’t very coordinated.”

But he could throw the shot and Sam Giambelluca wanted Moore to compete in an AAU track meet in Norman, Oklahoma.

Moore’s school record in the event of 59-feet, 11.75-inches set in 1968 still stands and he finished second at the state high school championships as a senior.

After some convincing by Giambelluca, Paul Moore allowed his son to go on the trip. Derland set a meet record and caught the attention of Sooners track coach J.D. Martin.

Moore agreed to a scholarship on the condition he could try out for the football team.

“If it hadn’t been for Sam, there wouldn’t have been Derland Moore the football player,” Moore said in 2008.

After an initial setback, and his father’s ultimatum, Moore found a fight, actually 13, but one stood out.

“The way we all noticed Derland Moore was when he got into a fight with our All-American senior tight end Steve Zabel,” said Larry Lacewell, the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma in a 1987 interview.

“Most freshmen are scared to death of seniors, much less one that’s an All-American. When he got in that fight with Zabel, that got our attention.”

Jimmy Johnson, the Hall of Famer who was Oklahoma’s defensive line coach, said at the time of Moore’s retirement he was a hard worker.

“He was dedicated and had a burning desire to do well,” Johnson said in 1987. “He was very intent and listened to everything you said.

“He’s the kind of player you always remember.”

Wearing No. 97, Moore started every game in three years for the Sooners, who won three bowl games and finished second in the nation twice with 11-1 records. He earned All-Big Eight honors twice and was an All-American as a senior after a dominating performance against No. 10 Texas.

Moore blocked a punt that a teammate returned for a touchdown, returned a fumble for another score and had 10 tackles as the second-ranked Sooners shut out the Longhorns 27-0.

The Associated Press named Moore the national lineman of the week and he won the “Gomer Jones Award” as outstanding college lineman in Oklahoma.

After playing in the Coaches All-American Game and College All-Star Game, Moore was drafted in the second round by the New Orleans Saints as the 29th overall pick in 1973.

At the time he was the highest walk-on selected in the NFL Draft.

Moore made his professional debut in the second week of the season at Dallas, a 40-3 loss.

He started 146 of 170 career games for the Saints, which still ranks eighth most in franchise history. He was selected as a Pro Bowl alternate twice and led the Saints in sacks at a time when it was not a statistic that was kept.

Moore won the NFL Arm Wrestling Championship in 1983 and in ’84.

“That’s probably going to go on my tombstone,” Moore once joked.

He was also the Miller Lite Saints Man of the Year in ’83 and on Nov. 4, 1984 he was honored with Derland Moore Day in New Orleans.

The Saints never had a winning season when Moore wore No. 97. Twice they finished 8-8, missing the playoffs in 1983 with a 26-24 loss to the Rams in the final game of the regular season.

Moore signed his first contract for a $21,000 and a $32,000 bonus while his final contract with the Saints paid $1.5 million over three years.

Moore was released by the Saints after minor knee surgery in 1986 and was picked up by the New York Jets.

Moore appeared in two playoff games with the Jets, who lost to the Cleveland Browns 23-20 in overtime of the Divisional Playoff, after the Jets led by 10 in the fourth quarter.

Moore retired prior to the 1987 season.

“It was the thrill of my NFL career,” Moore said in 2008. “It was everything I thought it would be and more. The thing about it is, I wanted it to be in New Orleans but that option didn’t exist. It would’ve meant a whole lot on the Saints but I am grateful to the Jets organization for giving me an opportunity.”

Born Oct. 7, 1951, in Malden, Missouri, to the late Paul and Charlene Moore, Derland Paul Moore was inducted into three halls of fame, had awards named in his honor, as well as the football field he played on in high school.

Moore, who wore No. 77 for the Mules, was a sophomore in 1966 when Poplar Bluff went 9-0 with four shutouts.

“That was a good group of guys, those juniors and seniors, that ’66 group,” Moore said in 2010. “I guess I really wanted them to be proud of me.”

Moore was inducted into the Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.

The Saints Hall of Fame added Moore in 1991 and he was named a member of the 40th and 50th anniversary teams.

In 2004, Moore was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Since 2011, the best defensive high school player in the SEMO Conference is given the Derland Moore Award. The Poplar Bluff High School football team also has a Derland Moore Award presented to a player exemplifying a dedication to the game through perseverance, personal sacrifice and hard work.

The field at Morrow Stadium in Poplar Bluff was dedicated as Derland Moore Field in 2010. The Mules went 20-9 at home after that, winning their last game in 2015 before moving into their new home across town. It is currently home to the Junior High football team, which won Thursday night at Sikeston, and the youth football league.

“I thought about the things you dream of as a little kid,” Moore said of the ceremony. “Right now, tonight, I actually lived a little kid’s dreams. They actually came true.”

Moore is survived by his wife, Frannie Moore, his children, Kimberly Moore, Michelle Moore Wells, Derland Moore II and Bradford Moore; grandchildren, Alexander and Zachary Waite, Bailor and Derland Wells, Caralyne and Camdyn Mooore; a sister, Teri Dicks, brothers, Sean Moore and Andrew Moore.

A private family Mass will be held at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Mandeville, Louisiana.

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