Kenny Moore papers

Kenny Moore was a sports journalist, author, screenwriter, distance runner, and former Olympian.

Kenneth Clark Moore was born on December 1, 1943, in Portland, Oregon. Moore grew up in Eugene, Oregon, and graduated from North Eugene High School in 1962. He received a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Oregon in 1966. While attending the University of Oregon, he ran track and cross country and was coached by Bill Bowerman. He was a three-time All-American and contributed to the school’s back-to-back NCAA track and field titles in 1964 and 1965. He was named the university’s top student-athlete in 1966. Moore attended one year of law school at Stanford University from 1966-1967 before deciding to return to the University of Oregon to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

Moore won national titles in the 1967 AAU Cross Country National Championship and the 1971 Pan American Games marathon. He ran the marathon in the 1968 Mexico City and 1972 Munich Olympic Games, finishing 14th and 4th, respectively. Moore won the largest footrace in the world, the San Francisco Bay to Breakers, six consecutive times from 1968-1973, making him the all-time leader in victories in the race.

From 1968-1970, Moore served in the U.S. Army, finishing as a Spec. 4 in Public Information at Ft. Lewis, WA. Moore worked as a substitute teacher and was a writing teacher at the University of Oregon from 1971-1972. He received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon in 1972.

Beginning in 1971, Moore served as the director of the Oregon Track Club. From 1973-1980 he was a founding member of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Advisory Council. From 1976-1977 he was a co-editor of the Final Report of The President’s Commission on Olympic Sports, which led to the Amateur Athletic Act of 1978, breaking up the Amateur Athletic Union and guaranteeing athlete’s voices and votes in all national sports governing bodies. Moore was the chairman of the Steve Prefontaine Foundation from 1976-1979. He was a member of the International Competition Committee of the Athletics Congress from 1977-1980.

Moore was a contract writer for Sports Illustrated from 1971-1980 and a senior writer from 1980-1995. In 1979, Moore won the Excellence in Running Journalism award from the Road Runners Club of America. Near the end of his career with Sports Illustrated, Moore campaigned for the freedom of Mamo Wolde, the 1968 Olympic marathon champion who had been imprisoned in Ethiopia.

In 1982, Moore’s book, Best Efforts: World Class Runners and Races, was published. Moore was a co-writer and executive producer of Robert Towne’s 1998 film, Without Limits, about his late friend Steve Prefontaine and former coach Bill Bowerman. Moore also had acting roles in Towne’s films Personal Best (1982) and Tequila Sunrise (1988). Moore co-wrote and appeared in the 1995 documentary about Steve Prefontaine, Fire on the Track: The Steve Prefontaine Story. Moore wrote a biography of Bill Bowerman, Bowerman and the Men of Oregon: The Story of Oregon’s Legendary Coach and Nike’s Cofounder, which was published in 2006. Moore also contributed to the books And Then the Vulture Eats You: Ultramarathons: Journeys of Discovery (1990) and Track Town USA: Hayward Field, America’s Crown Jewel of Track and Field (2010).

Moore was inducted into the University of Oregon Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.

Moore died on May 4, 2022, in Kailua, Hawaii.