Former Tide Football Standout, Assistant Coach & Influential Donor Bud Moore Dead At 86

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Robert Wayne “Bud” Moore, a former University of Alabama football standout and influential donor to Crimson Tide athletics, died Tuesday at his Bit and Spur farm in Lynnville, Tennessee.

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He was 86.

The news of Moore's death was confirmed Tuesday by the Paul W. Bryant Museum.

Moore was born Oct. 16, 1939, in Jasper and raised in the community of Bug Tussle before moving to Birmingham at age 10. He excelled in four sports at West End High School, earning Alabama High School All-Star honors in both football and baseball.

Standing an imposing 6-foot-4, he went on to play football for Bryant at Alabama from 1957-60, lettering three years at end and tackle. Moore's playing days saw him appear in the inaugural Liberty Bowl in 1959 and the Bluebonnet Bowl in 1960.

The Bryant Museum said Moore also lettered in baseball as a catcher and first baseman, playing alongside his brother, Gordon “Lefty” Moore.

After serving as a student assistant for Bryant in 1961, Moore began his coaching career at Gadsden High School before moving to Kentucky at 22 years old.

In the Bluegrass State, he coached multiple All-Americans and later joined Gene Stallings’ staff at Texas A&M, helping the Aggies capture the 1967 Southwest Conference title and defeat Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.

Moore then moved on to North Carolina, helping the Tar Heels win their first outright Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 1971 and returned to Alabama the following season to serve on Bryant’s staff from 1972-74, where he became the legendary coach's first offensive coordinator in 1974.

During Moore's tenure at his alma mater, Alabama won three straight Southeastern Conference championships and claimed the 1973 UPI national title, losing only one regular-season game. He coached All-Americans Sylvester Croom and Ozzie Newsome and recruited six players who later started on Alabama’s 1978 national championship team.

Moore went on to become head coach at Kansas in 1975 and was later named Big Eight Coach of the Year that season after leading the Jayhawks to a 23-3 upset of eventual national champion Oklahoma in a win that snapped the Sooners’ 37-game winning streak.

Kansas also reached the 1975 Sun Bowl and posted consecutive winning seasons for the first time in two decades.

Moore then made the decision to leave coaching at 40 years old and purchased a Miller beer distributorship in Pensacola, Florida.

As president and principal shareholder of Gator Distributors, Moore built one of the nation’s top-performing Miller wholesalers and eventually sold the company.

He also invested in ventures including Dreamland BBQ and automobile dealerships and developed Shell Creek Plantation in Wilcox County into a premier quail hunting property that hosted major field trials.

Moore was an accomplished sportsman and raised championship field trial bird dogs, including Shell Creek Dan, who was named Purina’s Top Field Trial Bird Dog in 1997-98, and Shell Creek Coin, a national champion.

Along with his bird dogs, Moore owned Tennessee Walking Horses that competed at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration and supported mounted fox hunting.

Amid his numerous business ventures, Moore also remained deeply committed to his alma mater and helped fund the construction of football facilities, advised university leaders on athletic initiatives, supported the creation of the Tide Pride donor program, and served on the Crimson Tradition Fund Executive Committee, helping raise more than $100 million for athletic upgrades.

In 1995, he received the Paul W. Bryant Alumni-Athlete Award and went on to be inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. He is also a member of the Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame.

Moore was preceded in death by his parents and brother.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy Suzanne Peters Moore; children and stepchildren; grandchildren; and extended family.

The Bryant Museum says a service is scheduled for Friday at Corinth Church of Christ in Bremen.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association or the Crimson Tide Foundation.

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