Nat Moore
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Nathaniel Moore (born September 19, 1951) is an American former professional
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player who was a
wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...
in the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL) for 13 seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. Moore played
college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
for the Florida Gators, and thereafter, he played professionally for the
Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...
of the NFL. He is best known as a favorite passing target of Dolphins
quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...
s Bob Griese and
Dan Marino Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. ( ; born September 15, 1961) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. He played college f ...
. Nat Moore is also credited as football consultant in the 1977 movie Black Sunday.


Early life

Moore was born in
Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Fl ...
in 1951.National Football League, Historical Players
Nat Moore
Retrieved May 27, 2010.
He grew up in
Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
and attended Miami Edison Senior High School and Miami-Dade Community College.databaseFootball.com, Players, . Retrieved June 6, 2010.


College career

On the recommendation of his junior college football coach, Moore received an athletic scholarship to transfer from the University of Tennessee at Martin to the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...
in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a star
running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...
for coach Doug Dickey's Gators teams in
1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
and
1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 87, 96, 138–140, 143, 147, 184 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011.
As a junior in 1972, Moore led the Gators with 145 rushes for 845 yards and nine rushing touchdowns, 25 receptions for 351 receiving yards and four touchdown catches, and 230 return yards, while earning first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) and honorable mention
All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...
accolades. Moore graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport science in 1975, and he was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1978. In a 2006 article series published by ''The Gainesville Sun'', the newspaper's sportswriters ranked him as No. 49 among the 100 all-time greatest Florida Gators of the team's first 100 seasons.


Professional career

Moore was chosen by the
Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...
in the third round (78th pick overall) of the 1974 NFL draft,Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History
1974 National Football League Draft
Retrieved May 27, 2010.
and he played for the Dolphins for 13 seasons from to . He was elected to the
Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...
in ,Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Nat Moore
Retrieved June 23, 2010.
after a season in which he made 52 receptions and led the league with 12 receiving
touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...
s (he also had a rushing touchdown that year). Moore is immortalized in the famous "Helicopter Catch" video clip—while making a reception against the
New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...
at
Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and primarily hosted sporting events and ...
in , he was hit simultaneously from opposite directions by two Jets tacklers sending his body spinning into the air. The catch was a crucial third-down conversion, leading to a score and a come-from-behind win in a closely contested divisional game. By the time Moore retired at the end of , his 13th season with the Dolphins, he had broken almost every receiving record of the Dolphins; his team records, however, were subsequently broken by teammates Mark Clayton and
Mark Duper Mark "Super" Duper (born January 25, 1959) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1982 to 1992. He played college football ...
. His final career receiving statistics were 510 catches for 7,547 yards and 74 touchdowns. He also rushed for 249 yards and a touchdown, returned 27 punts for 297 yards, and gained 856 yards on 33 kickoff returns.


Career statistics


Regular season


Life after football

Moore is also known for his humanitarian work and philanthropy. In , the NFL voted Moore as "Man of the Year," an honor given to a player who gives outstanding service to his community. Moore also received the
Byron White Byron Raymond "Whizzer" White (June 8, 1917 – April 15, 2002) was an American lawyer, jurist, and professional American football, football player who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, associate justice of the Supreme ...
Humanitarian Award in 1986. He created The Nat Moore Foundation, an organization through which he continues to work with disadvantaged youths in the
Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous coun ...
area, in 1998. On December 5, 1999, he was added to the
Miami Dolphins Honor Roll The Miami Dolphins Ring of Honor is a ring around the second tier at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, which honors former players, coaches, contributors, and officials who have made significant contributions to the Miami Dolphins franc ...
. Moore was a football broadcaster for Florida Gators football games on Sun Sports until 2011. As an announcer, he was notorious for adding an "s" to the last names of various players (Chris Leak became "Chris Leaks," Percy Harvin became "Harvins," etc.) In addition, he teams with Bob Griese to provide television analysis of preseason Dolphins games. He also owns a sports promotions firm, Nat Moore & Associates, Inc. He is a vice president in the Miami Dolphins organization and oversees the Miami Dolphins Alumni Association, and also serves as the executive director of the NFL Super Bowl Football Clinic.


See also

* Florida Gators football, 1970–79 * List of Florida Gators in the NFL draft * List of Miami Dolphins players *
List of University of Florida alumni This list of University of Florida alumni includes current students, former students, and graduates of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Honorary degree recipients can be found on the List of University of Florida honorary degree ...
* List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members


References


Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * McEwen, Tom, ''The Gators: A Story of Florida Football'', The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). . * Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Nat 1951 births Living people American Conference Pro Bowl players American football wide receivers College football announcers Florida Gators football players Miami Dade College alumni Miami Dolphins announcers Miami Dolphins players Players of American football from Tallahassee, Florida Miami Edison Senior High School alumni