Nickel: Wisconsin basketball to celebrate milestone and rally for a coach in need
Everyone loves the "Duck" – as Howard Moore is nicknamed – and everyone, it seems, from the Wisconsin basketball family is coming together to take advantage of a reunion to try to help him.
Moore, a former Wisconsin player and assistant basketball coach, is severely disabled after a car accident three years ago and his out-of-pocket, at-home-care costs are $450,000 a year.
Wisconsin is celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Badgers basketball program Saturday at a private event, but as of Wednesday afternoon, several members and supporters of the program had cobbled together more than $2 million in donations to help Moore and his teenage son.
And more help could be coming.
“We felt it was an appropriate time to remember and revisit where Howard is,” men’s basketball coach Greg Gard said. “And with this initiative, to help him financially, because the cost that they are enduring as a family is astronomical.”
Moore has needed a lot of medical care since the tragedy in Michigan in May 2019 took the life of his wife and daughter. The Moore family's car was hit head-on by a drunk driver near Ann Arbor, killing Jennifer Moore and the couple’s 9-year-old daughter, Jaidyn. The Moores' then-12-year-old son, Jerell, was injured but survived; but Howard was severely burned.
A month after the accident, recovering from those burns in Madison, Moore suffered a major heart attack. Fighting for his life, Moore had to rely on extensive CPR treatment from emergency responders, and that ultimately affected him physically. The lovable and energetic man who was both a sounding board for Gard on the bench and the glue that bonded the university, program, coaches and players is now trying to learn how to walk and talk again.
“But even now, you walk in the room and he greets you with a huge smile, he reaches out and tries to give you a fist pound and tries to give you a hug,” Chris Conger, Moore’s former teammate at UW, said. “Howard’s positive energy is still there. It's just amazing, how positive he is in almost every situation.”
Insurance covers some but nowhere near all of Moore’s medical costs. Besides that, there’s son Jerell, a high school junior, who is a dependent.
“You wouldn't wish what that kid had to go through on anybody, ever,” Gard said. “The emotional support and presence for him has been good and they've had a lot of close family friends for help. Rashard Griffith has been awesome in terms of just stepping in and living with the family and helping take day-to-day care of Howard along with the nursing crews.”
The Badgers basketball program had a Zoom teleconference meeting two weeks ago to plan for this event, and Jerell joined the call.
“It was just neat to see Jerell,” Conger said. “Lamont Paris, who was an assistant at Wisconsin and is now the head coach in South Carolina, even popped up; he said, ‘Jerell, I can't believe your voice has changed. You're turning into a man.’ It's so nice to see.
“Jerell is starting to look like him more and more. If you put a flat top on him like Howard, people would think they’re the same person.”
The $450,000 annual rest-of-life costs for Moore’s care at his home in Middleton include in-home nursing, therapy, care manager and caregiver services, medical supplies, health insurance premiums, annual health care costs and vehicle expenses.
So several people came together, including planner Heather Garrison, attorney Tim Valentyn and Wisconsin alum George Hamel, to pair the 125-year celebration Saturday night at Camp Randall Stadium with a fundraising opportunity, using the power and draw of a big university to pull it all off. And yet, this is a fraternal group within the basketball program, a family within a program.
Former Badgers coaches Stu Jackson, Dick Bennett, Bo Ryan and Gard as well as former players Josh Gasser, Jon Leuer, Mike Kelley, Frank Kaminsky and Michael Finley are just some of the well-known program contributors who are expected to headline at the event or attend.
“We've got players from all generations coming back and they've all been interconnected with Howard,” Gard said. “There's a bridge and a connection with everybody, so it's not who you played for, or what era you were here. It's a continuum of people that wore that jersey or coached on the sidelines.
“This is a real life example. Everybody has reunions and things to celebrate milestones and years gone by, but to coincide this event to honor and to support Howard and his family, is a testament to the power of Wisconsin. We tell recruits all the time, the power of the ‘W’ becomes way more impactful after you're done playing.
“Howard’s former coaches, Stan Van Gundy and Stu Jackson have been phenomenal in terms of rallying the core group.”
Moore played for the Badgers in the mid-1990s and then joined Gard’s coaching staff in 2015.
“Playing here, he understood this place,” Gard said. “He was able to help us and I think there's no way we're in this position and have the success we've had over the last seven years if it's not for Coach Moore coming back and really being an anchor that I can lean on, because I leaned on him a lot.”
Nicknamed "Duck" – for the movie "Howard the Duck" – Moore hasn’t been forgotten in the last three years. Visits to him were sparse during the pandemic out of precaution, but Badgers teammates, players and coaches never lost their compassion for Moore.
“Everybody loves Duck,” Gard said. “Gorgeous family, really outgoing, infectious personality. Everybody loves him and has great stories to tell about him.”
While there’s no public movement yet, there are plans for more fundraising this year. There is a documentary on his life in the works.
"Howard just had this love for life and love for people,” Conger said. “Made everyone feel at ease and he connected a lot of our former teammates throughout the generations. He was one of the few constants. We had Matt Lepay, Otto Puls and Howard, whose time spans all the way from the (Steve) Yoder years to the Gard years.
“This is all reciprocal. I've seen things that he's done to help others so unselfishly. If this were to happen to one of us, he'd be the one leading the charge.”
Message Lori Nickel on Twitter at @LoriNickel, Instagram at @bylorinickel or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ChinUpLoriNickel
More: A long-awaited reunion: Greg Gard recently was able to visit with former UW assistant Howard Moore
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin basketball to celebrate milestone, rally for coach in need
