HIGH ACHIEVERS: Quarterback Rodney Moors has called the right players to enter two halls of fame

By Martin Cleary

Rodney Moors has spent the past 50-plus years immersed in tackle, touch or flag football, whether as an amateur or pro, coach, director or as a young boy tossing the ball to virtual receivers on the front lawn of his family home.

But his love of the gridiron game could have come to a full stop with his first experience in the tackle game as a 12-year-old, wannabe quarterback.

“I was cut from my first team, the Queensway Titans, when I was in Grade 7,” Moors recalled in a phone interview this week. “I remember crying, after my dad told me I was cut.”

After spending four years taking a solo approach to developing his quarterbacking and kicking skills on his front lawn, he figured he was ready to take a shot at playing the real game of football. When it didn’t work, he was understandably crushed.

But like a quarterback who gets sacked on a critical play, Moors got back on his feet. He was filled with determination, took advantage of numerous breaks because of his will to succeed and proved he had the right ingredients to play youth, high school, university and semi-pro football.

And when his tackle playing days were finished, he shifted to touch football, where he again used his leadership skills, attention to detail, technique and accuracy to celebrate 13 national championships – eight as a player for two teams and five as a women’s team coach.

If that wasn’t enough, Moors, 61, remains in the game, but away from active duty on the field or sidelines as the director of the non-contact program for the Bell Warriors in the National Capital Amateur Football Association.

Having made his mark in so many different areas, and continuing to do so today, it’s not surprising football organizations have noticed his football resume and wanted to pay tribute to him.

Earlier this year, Football Ontario honoured Moors by naming him as one of eight inductees into its provincial hall of fame, along with contributors like quarterbacks Frank Cosentino and Dan Fereday, receiver Rocky DiPietro and all-around women’s player Nancy Mantha.

That award came a year after he was inducted into the NCAFA Hall of Fame in a distinguished group including NFL players Jesse Luketa and Luiji Vilain, player/coach Jeff Koradi and the Milito family.

“I was surprised by both of them (hall-of-fame honours),” said Moors, a retired Bell High School teacher. “It’s nice when you go there and see other people in the sport.

“It was a real celebration of my time spent in football. It was a time to reflect. Time has gone by quickly. I’m getting older.”

It’s hard to believe it was only 53 years ago, when he combined his imagination with a football for his first, front-lawn experience with the game.

Football was a big part of his family life. His father David enjoyed attending Ottawa Rough Riders games and older brother Mark was on his way to a stellar career as an offensive lineman with Acadia University and a decade in the CFL with four teams, including Ottawa in 1988 and a Grey Cup win with Winnipeg in 1984.

“I loved throwing and kicking the ball. I’d throw it, pick up and throw it again,” said an upbeat Moors as he recalled those happy days. “I loved football then, but had no intentions other than pickup.”

Once all the pieces fell into place for Moors to return to youth tackle football and he got over his first, big disappointment, he started to understand the game better, develop as a player and young man and take full advantage of his opportunities.

Two years after being cut, he made the Myers Riders program as a Grade 9 student and quickly became the starting quarterback, when the original first-string QB dropped out to focus on his high school studies.

After taking a one-year break from football the next season, he had built enough confidence to attend the senior tryouts for the Sir Robert Borden High School Bengals. As a Grade 11 student-athlete, he made the team as a backup quarterback and became the starting pivot in Grades 12 and 13.

When he made the Borden team under head coach Geof Hamlin, he stepped away from golf to focus on football. Moors was a solid junior golfer on the city and provincial junior circuits.

“I wanted to explore the whole football thing,” a humble Moors said. “Not that I was any good, but I wanted to focus on football.”

It helped that few students tried out for the Borden quarterback position, but Moors was determined, motivated and qualified for that key role.

“He (Hamlin) helped me so much,” Moors added. “He stuck by me. He had faith in me. He had a tremendous influence on me.”

One of Moors’ strong points was his leadership. He was selected to attend the Ontario Athletic Leadership Camp one summer and also was named the boys’ athletic head at Borden for one academic year.

While Moors led Borden to three successful Ottawa high school regular seasons in the West Division, getting past the teams in the East Division was too challenging. At the end of his high school football career, he wasn’t recruited by any Canadian universities, but he had an idea.

After enrolling at the University of Toronto in 1982, he phoned Varsity Blues football coach Ron Murphy and asked him if he could try out for the team. Murphy said yes and when Moors attended his first day of camp there were 10 quarterbacks on the Varsity Blues’ depth chart.

As training camp played out, five quarterback candidates dropped out and Moors suddenly became No. 5 on the list. Although he didn’t dress for any games in his freshman season, which saved a year of athletic eligibility, he often served as the opposition team quarterback during Toronto practices.

Moors was serious about his role as “the hamburger” quarterback, as he called it, and his execution caught the attention of the coaches and players.

“I got all the reps and I soaked it all in,” said Moors, who learned a lot from starting quarterback and NFL-bound Fereday.

For his final three years, Moors was the starting quarterback for the Varsity Blues. He was consistently one of the top five quarterbacks in Canada and was once named an OUA second-team all-star.

After graduation, Moors headed to Europe to play and coach semi-pro, spring football for Modena Vipers in Italy (1988 and 1989) and the Gateshead Senators in the United Kingdom (1990 and 1991).

And to add even more football to his life, he played for the Ottawa Bootleggers men’s senior football team in the fall against American competition for the 1989 and 1990 seasons.

“I think I played 26 games in one calendar year,” Moors recalled about his thoroughly enjoyable experience with an eclectic group of Bootlegger players. “That was very hard on the body, especially on a team with no physio. I needed time off.”

Moors headed back to school and earned an education degree in Toronto, teaching the sciences and coaching football in the provincial capital for six years before moving back to Ottawa in 1998.

But he also found his way into another discipline of his sport – touch football – while in Toronto.

As quarterback for Landell Lightning, he sparked his team to three Canadian men’s touch football championships in the mid to late 1990s.

When he wasn’t teaching, coaching or helping to raise a young family with his wife Joy in Ottawa, he continued his touch football career. While playing for the Ottawa Nepean Canadians, he celebrated five more men’s national championships.

He loved the game so much, he coached the Ottawa Devils women’s touch football team, which captured five Canadian titles under his sideline leadership.

For the past 10 years, Moors has been instrumental in building a strong non-contact football program with the Bell Warriors. As director, he helped switch the Warriors’ non-contact program to flag football in the past few seasons from touch football. Flag football will be part of the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games in 2028.

He now enjoys watching a growing number of young boys and girls experiencing flag football as well as doing some coaching.

“It’s incredible to see the whole thing operate. I like the administrative work. It is a challenge. I also really enjoy coaching, but I realize my energy isn’t the same,” added Moors, who also coaches girls’ high school flag football at Bell in the spring.

Related