Ty Moore and the weight of legendary expectations
Ty Moore was one of the most dominating high school wrestlers in history. His matches were the battles we were able to see.
This story, with slight edits, was originally published in May, 2019.
Plaques and pictures line the walls of coach Teague Moore’s office at American University. Inspirational quotes are taped to the wall, a cabinet, the door. Portraits of Moore’s family sit by his workspace.
A makeshift shrine is in Moore’s office, too.
A picture of his brother, Ty, arm raised in victory, sits in a frame with their father’s obituary. Ty’s medals are on display, along with his J. Robinson 28-day intensive camp T-shirt, lying folded among the relics.
Each are reminders of Ty Moore’s greatness.
They’re also illustrations of the pitfalls of success and the weight of expectation.
Ty Moore won 146 matches and four Pennsylvania high school state titles for North Allegheny High School. He lost once. He pinned 116 of his opponents. He’s one of the greatest high school wrestlers in American history.
Teague is Ty's younger brother. Saying the three-time All-American and 1998 national champion for Oklahoma State looked up to Ty is like saying Jordan Burroughs has a fairly decent double-leg.
“He was everything a big brother should be,” Teague said. “After my dad died in 1996, we became very, very close.”
Making sure Little Brother was okay became a priority for Big Brother.
Recruited by Iowa, Arizona State, Iowa State, Syracuse, and an assembly of others, Ty chose North Carolina.
North Carolina's head coach at the time, Bill Lam, marveled at his young star.
“When Ty was in high school, he was about five years ahead of everyone,” Lam said. “He could pin anyone. He had tremendous flexibility, tremendous balance.”
How good was Ty Moore?
To close his high school career, he defeated two-time junior national freestyle champion and eventual three-time NCAA Champion, T.J. Jaworsky, at the 1990 Dapper Dan Classic.
Ty took Jaworsky down and pinned him. In the first period.
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“He was ridiculous,” Ohio State coach Tom Ryan said. “We traveled overseas together and I remember watching him and thinking how tough he was. He stood out. Even in a room full of tough guys, Ty stood out.”
If ever a recruit seemed destined for collegiate national titles, it was Ty Moore. He never met the expectations. He never came close.
The scale became one of his toughest opponents. Making the lightest weight class — 118 pounds — was a struggle. So, too, was navigating the newfound freedoms and temptations of college life. No longer under the daily supervision of John and Patricia Moore, Ty pursued the social aspects of college life with the same, full-throttle zeal he’d approached high school wrestling matches.
Ty started drinking too much.
Maybe it was simply that a lot of college students overindulge. Perhaps it was nothing more than the pedal-to-the-metal, extroverted personality he’d always had, the same trait that propelled him to becoming one of the best high school wrestlers in history. It was a trait Ty shared in kindred-spirit fashion with his older brother and hero, Tommy.
Maybe drinking masked the pain of falling short of expectations.
Shortly after graduating, his father would die at the age of 62. Six years later, the family—and Ty in particular—absorbed another blow.
Tommy Moore committed suicide.
“The way (Teague) looked up to Ty,” brother Terry said. “That’s how Ty looked at Tommy. He was Ty’s hero. And then Tommy was gone.”
Ty was suffering. Alcohol became his anesthetic.
“There was so much,” sister Tina Gwinn said. “Ty never let go of the past, how his wrestling career ended. It hurt him. Then our father died and later on Tommy. Ty was drinking; his marriage was struggling. It was a lot.”
Ty and high school teammate and Iowa All-American, Ray Brinzer, started the Angry Fish Wrestling Club. Their club produced both national and international stars, including Olympians Jake Herbert and Coleman Scott.
While coaching provided a measure of purpose, inner peace remained elusive.
“Even with Angry Fish and all the success those kids went on to have, Ty just couldn't let go. He couldn’t get happy,” Tina said.
Through everything, Teague Moore kept his hero on a pedestal. Until he couldn’t.
“In 2006 I was still coaching at Clarion,” Teague said. “(Ty would) visit a lot. It was great, until I realized that every time he came to visit, he had to pack a cooler first. He couldn’t visit me unless he had that cooler with him, filled with beer and liquor for the drive.
“I asked him, ‘Why can’t you show up sober?’ And he said, ‘What’s it to you?’ And, you know, things got heated.
“I had to think about my kids. They were getting old enough to understand things. I couldn’t let them see him like that. I basically told him he wasn’t allowed around if he wasn’t sober.”
For Terry Moore, one particular memory stands above others.
“We hadn’t spoken for a while,” Terry said. “We’d had a falling out over his drinking. I’m driving one day, and a number I didn’t recognize came in on my cell phone, but I answered anyway. I didn’t recognize the voice. I asked who it was, and the voice on the other end said, ‘It’s me, Ty.’”
Terry Moore paused, attempted to continue, but paused again.
“He began apologizing, and I told him it was OK. I told him I just wanted my little brother back, I told him I just wanted Ty back.
“He said, ‘Terry, I do too.’”
Since real life isn’t a Hallmark Channel movie script, each sibling would receive the call.
Ty died in his sleep on December 9, 2014. He was 43.
Teague hopes his brother’s is a cautionary tale of the dangers of pouring one’s identity into fleeting successes and failures.
“There’s no way that Teague Moore in 2001 would have the perspective he has now,” Teague said. “Get to the top of the podium; that’s all that mattered. Success was (there). That’s how I viewed things.”
Winning is still important to the Division I head coach. But, perspective reigns.
“I’ve seen top-of-the-podium people without any foundation, and when that day ends for them, life becomes about glory days. I’m proud our team GPA is 3.6— second in the nation. In 2001, I wouldn’t have taken any comfort in that. Guys that succeed on the mat and in the classroom, those are the people who make differences in their families and communities. That’s what I’m committed to now.”
For Teague Moore, tragedy and loss have been conduits of learning. More keenly than most, he understands that life is more than championships and possessions.
“My brother Tommy, when we were going through his things after he died, he’d amassed so much stuff; he had so many material possessions. They didn’t make him happy,” Teague said.
What matters most to Teague Moore?
“My faith, my relationship with God,” he said. “That’s the foundation and cornerstone with how I deal with everything now. If my mother hadn’t instilled these in me, I’m sure some of these tragedies would have taken me down a bad road.”
Teague Moore lives with ache. He misses Ty. There’s a discernible, wistful yearning for how his brother’s story should have gone, but did not.
He lives in the afterglow, too. Ty Moore’s sunset left warmth.
“He was the life of every party,” Teague said. “He was the uncle who, every time he stopped over, he’d first stop at a store or gas station and walk in with bags of candy for my kids. It actually became an issue. I told him it was too much, that he had to stop. He looked at me and said, ‘Look, I’m their uncle. This is what I do. I like doing it. So no, I’m not stopping.’
“So of course, my kids loved when Uncle Ty came over. That right there is so much of who my brother was.”
***
On Tuesday, June 25, 2024 the re-release of The Price of Legacy: Wrestling with a Dynasty, takes place on video-on-demand platforms (Apple iTunes, Google Movies and YouTube Movies).
The documentary film chronicles the story of Perry, Oklahoma, and its nationally recognized, 103 year-old wrestling program. Viewers learn about this small town’s rich history, its salt-of-the-earth citizens and the core values of character, grit and an honest days work. Whether the work is done under a hot, prairie sun, inside the walls of town businesses or in the practice room of the Perry High School wrestling program, The Price of Legacy: Wrestling with a Dynasty, outlines how hometown pride, character and tradition serve as the abiding backbone of its high school wrestling team’s incredible success.
When the documentary was originally released, no two years had gone by - in 59 years - without Perry winning the Oklahoma team state championship, the most successful championship run of any high school, college or professional sports team in U.S. history.
Coming Friday, 6/21/24: Charles Mason
Not long ago, Mount Saint Joseph University’s wrestling team was on life-support. When Charles Mason was hired in 2018, the team was coming off a season in which they’d finished with four wrestlers on the roster.
Today, Mason has 45 wrestlers on his squad, an NWCA Division III Central Region Coach of the Year award, and has coached multiple All-Americans to national placements during his tenure - including the first Mount wrestler to win a national title, Cornell Beachem, Jr.
Seems MSJU picked the right guy. Read about him in this space tomorrow.
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