O-Line Units Will Receive O-Line Sized Recognition
NEW YORK, New York – December 4, 2015 – The Joe Moore Foundation for Teamwork today unveiled the JOE MOORE AWARD trophy, the largest in college football, to be given annually to recognize the nation’s Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit. The award is named after Joe Moore, widely regarded as one of the best offensive line coaches in college football history, and is the only major college football award to honor a unit.
“The Joe Moore Award was never meant to be just another trophy or college football award,” said Jimbo Covert, Hall of Fame lineman at Pitt and current member of the JMA voting committee. “It was meant to embody the very things that define both the offensive line position and the game of football itself: teamwork and toughness,”
The bronze trophy for the Joe Moore Award will go to the Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit in college football and, at more than 350 pounds, is the largest trophy in college football.
The trophy, with players that each stand more than two feet tall, will travel to each winning school’s campus and stay there until the following year’s winner is announced.
The Joe Moore Award trophy, built by a team led by legendary sports sculptor Jerry McKenna, is sandblasted in preparation for its unveiling.
The trophy, created by legendary sports sculptor Jerry McKenna, depicts all five offensive linemen just before their moment of truth, as they prepare to control the line of scrimmage. A bas-relief on the base features the likeness of Joe Moore. The bronze trophy weighs in at the size of a large lineman – about 350 pounds – and is five feet wide by four feet tall. Each player stands approximately 26 inches tall and their numbers (50, 60, 70) represent the historical designations for each position. The granite and walnut base was designed and built by The James Vanderlin Co., located in South Williamsport, PA, not far from where Joe Moore grew up.
“The trophy is big, heavy and features a bunch of ‘big uglies’ – a true representation of our offensive line fraternity,” said Aaron Taylor, CBS Sports CFB Analyst and Chairman of the Joe Moore Award Voting Committee. “It takes all five linemen to win it, it should take all five to lift it!”
The trophy’s bas-relief includes the likeness of Joe Moore, considered one of the greatest offensive line coaches in college football history
A pedestal, which will feature a plaque commemorating the coaches and players of each winning Unit, will join the trophy as it travels from school to school each year. “The award is bigger than football, it’s a mini-monument to working hard and working together,” said Taylor. “By traveling every year to the campus of the winning Unit, we hope it will inspire others to make an impact in their own ways, by working hard and working together.”
In recognition of the impact he had on their lives, friends, family, players and colleagues of Coach Moore donated all of the funds required to create the trophy.
Final voting for the Joe Moore Award is currently underway and will decide a winner among the Finalists: Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Stanford. The winner will be announced in mid-December.
About Jerry McKenna
A former Air Force officer and decorated Vietnam veteran, his early recognition came from his bronze portraits of famous Air Force leaders, including General Billy Mitchell. Jerry was named the 2003 Sports Sculptor of the Year by the All-American Football Foundation in recognition of his 17 portrait busts in the Pro Hall of Fame, his sculpture of Knute Rockne at the College Football Hall of Fame, Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch for the University of Wisconsin, and many others. In September 2014, the NCAA listed two of his works as the Best Sculptures in College Football: the Ara Parseghian came in at No. 5 and The Four Horsemen was No. 1.