MADISON, Wis. – There’s nobody on the current Wisconsin Badgers basketball roster that was there the last time Howard Moore sat on the bench as a member of Greg Gard’s staff. It’s a sign of how quickly things changed in four years.
But while few players in the program even know who Moore is, they know his words by the way the program keeps his presence alive on a constant basis.
“Anybody who has stepped foot in our program understands,” Gard said. “Maybe they don’t have the direct connection or haven’t met him, but they’ve heard plenty about him.”
There will be plenty of stories shared this weekend about the former Wisconsin coach and assistant lovingly nicknamed “Duck” by his teammates, but one of the main focuses of Wisconsin Basketball 125th weekend celebration is a private luncheon being held Saturday inside the Champions Club at Camp Randall Stadium.
It’s part of a massive fundraising campaign orchestrated by a committee of former Badgers Shawn Carlin, Chris Conger, Dan Fahey, Andy Kilbride, and Zak Showalter, as well as UW alumnus and philanthropist George Hamel and Madison attorney Tim Valentyn, to make sure Moore’s healthcare needs for the remainder of his life nearly four years after a deadly car accident that killed Moore’s wife, his nine-year-old daughter Jaidyn and left him with severe medical problems.
Significant donations have already been secured from former players and colleagues, including Gard, and more will likely come on a weekend that was originally meant to celebrate the program’s longevity but turned into a cry for action to help a player, a coach, and a friend.
“To be able to put something together like this, knowing we would have so many people coming back, I think was an awesome idea,” Gard said. “It started quite a while ago and just started growing.”
The outpouring of emotions and support has been prevalent since news started filtering through Wisconsin’s circles of the tragedy and the difficulties that followed.
Traveling to Michigan to visit family over Memorial Day weekend, Moore’s car was hit head-on by a drunk driver outside Ann Arbor. An autopsy revealed the driver, Samantha Winchester, 23, 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 the Moore family car and killed Jennifer and Jaidyn.
The Moore's 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 time to recover but suffered a serious heart attack a month later. He survived thanks to extensive CPR treatment from emergency responders, but the treatment left him seriously disabled and he was moved to a long-term care and rehabilitation facility.
Although health insurance is covering some of the costs, the Moore family estimates his expenses shortfall will be more than $450,000 per year from in-home nursing, therapy, supplies, and caregiver services.
Organizers hope to create this weekend that will cover the majority of those costs.
“The medical expenses that are occurring and will continue to occur are enormous,” Gard said. “We’re trying to put together a plan now and for the rest of his life with things beyond what insurance covers. Insurance covers a lot but it doesn’t cover everything. He had a lot of needs that need to be met.”
The story isn’t a complete tragedy. Visiting him as much as he can between Moore’s medical needs and his coaching responsibilities, Gard said that Moore has made progress since the heart attack and is aware of his surroundings, still possessing his trait of positive energy.
Jerrell just turned 17 and is a two-sport athlete at Middleton High School. Some of the proceeds from this weekend will go through his education expenses. In UW’s locker room, the Badgers hang a picture of Jerrell from the 2019 home opener when the team made him the honorary captain and the sixth starter.
While a public donation drive hasn’t been announced, a website — domoorefor34.com — is being set up to allow others to donate.
“The big piece of doing this is not forgetting,” Gard said. “The news cycle spins so fast, and everybody forgets about what happens. There’s life lasting impact that comes not only from that night but subsequent days after it. That hasn’t gone away from them and him.”
“(This is) another great example of this program, this University stepping up to help one of its own and doing it in a very classy, eloquent way. It’s giving tribute to him but also using this opportunity to try to help him from a financial standpoint.”
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