Ballard J. Moore - 1993

Ballard J. Moore was born June 24, 1935, in Bardstown, Kentucky, where he received his elementary and secondary education. 

He earned his bachelors degree from Western Kentucky University in 1958, where he lettered four years in tennis and was instrumental in leading the “Hilltoppers” to two Ohio Valley Conference Championships. 

Bal earned his masters degree from the University of Kentucky in 1959, and was immediately hired as men’s varsity tennis coach, thus becoming the youngest coach of a major university in the nation.  During his four years at Kentucky his tennis teams set yearly records for wins in a season.  In addition, he served as an assistant basketball coach at Kentucky for the legendary Adloph Rupp and Henry Lancaster. 

Bal taught at Western Kentucky University from 1964-67, whereupon he was hired as men’s tennis coach and assistant basketball coach at Jefferson State Community College in the fall of 1967.  on a leave of absence, Bal earned his doctorate from Louisiana State University ion 1970, then returning to Jefferson State where he was to complete a quarter-century of junior college coaching by 1993.  During this era his tennis teams won 22 Alabama titles, national singles and doubles championships, and earned 40 All-American selections.  Nine times his teams finished in the top five nationally.  Bal was named the NJCAA Coach of the Year in 1971 and 1972, won the NJCAA Herchel Stephens Service Award in 1986 and was inducted into the National Junior College Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992.  In September, 1992, the United States Professional Tennis Association named Bal as its Coach of the Year.  Bal’s team victories approach 750 wins, which ranks him as the nation’s winningest junior college coach. 

The majority of Coach Moore’s players at Jefferson State Community College have gone in to play major college tennis.  Over 50 of his players have become coaches and teaching professionals.  Many have gone on to win state, sectional, and national honors, and some have played world-wide competitions. 

Since 1989, Fr. Moore has done volunteer wheelchair tennis coaching for Lakeshore Hospital in Birmingham and the National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis in California.  From 1989-1993, he has coached Randy Snow, the world’s number one wheelchair tennis player.  On three occasions, along with his wife, Marcha, he has coached the U.S.A. wheelchair tennis teams to international titles and two Para-lympic titles.  He and his wife were presented with the National Volunteer Service Award of the Year in 1992 by the National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis. 

Bal’s wife, Marcha, has been the women’s varsity tennis coach at Jefferson State Community College since 1975.  They have two sons, Curtis Guy, age 24; and Scott Monroe, age 22.