MADISON, Wis. – Two days before the University of Wisconsin was set to honor former student-athlete and assistant coach Howard Moore, head coach Greg Gard made it a point to show a brief video presentation to his team Thursday.
He did it to try and temper some of the emotional reactions the video generated. There’s nothing that could have prepared them for what actually happened.
At the video's conclusion, one where play-by-play voice Matt Lepay choked back tears talking about his excitement for the day Moore could return to the Kohl Center, Lepay grabbed the microphone and told fans that "now was that time."
Wheeled to center court by former teammate Rashard Griffith, Moore emerged from the Wisconsin tunnel and was taken to center court, arms raised to a standing ovation.
Moore and Griffith were eventually joined by former teammates Chris Conger, Shawn Carlin, Michael Finley, and Tracy Webster. Moore and Gard shared an embrace, while the UW team eventually came over to embrace Moore and pose for a picture.
It was Moore’s first time in the Kohl Center for a game since March 7, 2019. A little more than two months later, the Moore family car was hit head-on by a drunk driver outside Ann Arbor. The driver, 23-year-old Samantha Winchester, had a blood-alcohol content level of 0.207%, more than 2.5 times Michigan’s legal limit of 0.08 percent when she struck Moore’s car.
The Moore’s nine-year-old daughter, Jaidyn, died at the scene while Moore’s wife, Jennifer, later died at the hospital. She was driving the vehicle at the time of the crash.
The Moores' then-12-year-old son, Jerell, was injured but survived; but Howard was left with serious burns from the fire caused by the impact. Moore planned to return to coaching after taking the year off but suffered a serious heart attack a month later. He survived thanks to extensive CPR treatment from emergency responders.
Moore was admitted to a long-term care and rehabilitation center before returning home in December 2021.
Carlin and Conger are part of a large UW fundraising committee created in April to help Moore cover the roughly $450,000 annual out-of-pocket medical costs.
A three-year letter winner from 1993-95, Moore played in 47 games for the Badgers from 1990-95, including 21 appearances as a senior. He played for coaches Steve Yoder, Stu Jackson, and Stan Van Gundy, and helped the Badgers earn back-to-back NIT berths in 1991 and 1992. In 1994, Moore teamed with Finley, Griffith, Webster, Andy Kilbride, Brian Kelley, and others to help Wisconsin end a 47-year drought and return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1947.
He joined the program as an assistant coach under Bo Ryan from 2005-10 and rejoined the Badgers during the 2015-16 season after Gard was elevated to interim head coach.
Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh announced during halftime that the Badgers basketball offices would be renamed the "Howard Moore Family Men’s Basketball Offices.”
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