Legendary Monterey baseball coach Bobby Moegle will never forget the day that 15-year-old Donnie Moore told him he needed to be a Monterey Plainsman to accomplish his dream of being a major league pitcher.
"He had a clear idea and an unbelievable vision of what he wanted to do at 15 years of age," Moegle said.
That vision involved transferring from Dunbar and becoming one, if not the only, African American student at Monterey, but kids at Monterey only saw a kid that could play some serious baseball.
Dwayne Clanton, a former teammate of Moore's, said that it didn't get better than Donnie when it comes to high school baseball.
"Donnie was probably one of the best four pitchers in the state of Texas when I played baseball at Monterey," Clanton said.
"Donnie Moore was pretty much a legend before he left Lubbock Monterey," said David Thetford, chair person for the Lubbock ISD Hall of Honor. "He was that good."
Moore compiled a 38-8 record on the mound and lead the Plainsmen to their first state championship in 1972. He still holds the school record for strikeouts in a season with 222 and career strikeouts with 425.
"If I wanted to win one game, in my 40 years of coaching, he is the one I would want on the mound," Moegle said.
It seems like the perfect story for a hall of fame. He was a young boy from Lubbock, conquering high school baseball, becoming a national champion in 1973 at Ranger Junior College and being drafted in the 1973 major leagues by the Chicago Cubs.
"He really felt like he had conquered something on his own," Moegle said.
It all changed, however, with one pitch. In 1986, Moore was the closer for the California Angels and was down to the final strike needed to win the ALCS versus the Boston Red Sox.
To the Angel's dismay, the Red Sox Dave Henderson connected for a two-run home run and Boston went on to win the game, the championship, and a trip to the world series.
Moore's friends said Moore never recovered from that one pitch. He only won a few more games over the next few years and in 1989 during a fight with his wife, Moore shot her three times and then turned the gun on himself. His wife recovered but Lubbock never did, losing a legend in the game of baseball.
"It was just devastating to me," Moegle said. "I just know that if he could have just gotten back to Lubbock where everyone loves him and where he was so highly accepted, that we could have talked this thing out and done something for him."
Flash forward to the announcement of the LISD Hall of Honor where Donnie Moore was a popular nomination, and David Thetford, a chairman for the Hall of Honor, said its no surprise to him.
"If you talk to any of Donnie's friends, the people that knew Donnie Moore, they will say he isn't only one of the greatest players ever, but one of the best people ever," Thetford said.
And what, you may wonder, does the selection process entail?
"We take nominations from anyone who wants to nominate someone," Thetford said. "A lot of them come from committee members, but we encourage anyone to write us and tell us who they think should be inducted and why."
And although some question the nomination based on the end of Moore's life, we must not forget the meaning behind induction into the hall of honor.
"For the LISD Hall of Honor, we are amazed at what he did while he was in Lubbock," Moegle said.
"In the selection of Donnie Moore to the Hall of Honor, he got almost all the votes and people were really pulling for him," Thetford said. "His record speaks for itself."
Moegle said Moore was a true phenomenon in the baseball world.
