Mizzou’s J’Mon Moore A Leader On and Off the Football Field

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This spring, sports beat writers named J’Mon Moore the key to the success of the University of Missouri’s football team.  

You see his name in the media guide, you see the stat lines… height 6-3, weight 190, 23 catches for 252 yards and 2 touchdowns. He’s just a sophomore, like thousands of other guys playing D1, D2 and D3 football.  Last year he got a few snaps in one game, but outside of the potential and praise given by the coaching staff you’d think there’s really nothing too remarkable about him.

And if you did think that, you thought wrong…

The University of Missouri started making headlines last week and drawing serious attention. You might have heard about it,  African-American students have been putting up with a culture of racism on campus for some time. In fact, it has become so bad that some of the students courageously confronted the President of the college, Wolfe, in a show of protest which ended in an incident and further protests calling for his resignation.

There were a few rumblings about it in the media when a grad student named Anthony Butler went on a hunger strike, vowing that it would end with his own death or Loftin’s resignation. There were a few reports about it, but one person took notice, J’Mon Moore.

J’Mon Moore was on campus, having heard about what transpired and checked out the camp that Anthony Butler’s supporters had made at the University.  Deeply moved by what he saw, J’Mon returned to his dorm room, talked about Butler’s protest to a few of his teammates, and discussed what they could do to support and truly make a difference.

They knew they had the power to help.

By nightfall, the country opened its eyes to Twitter as pictures of 30 African-American members of the team and Anthony Butler linked arm in arm appeared across the internet.  The teammates made a stand, saying they wouldn’t take the field until Mizzou’s President resigned. Soon after, the coaches joined, then the rest of the team…

It was all but over for Mizzou’s President. He resigned on Monday.

J’Mon and his teammates had turned their talent, platform, and a critical opportunity into a higher purpose.

“Our plan was to use our platform to make a difference and stand behind Jonathan. That’s what we did at the end of the day,” Moore was quoted as saying.

In the end, it turned out that J’Mon Moore truly did contribute to the development of the team, the nation, and possibly the world. He did it in a way that mattered far more than football.

SOURCE: USA Today

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