*J-Club Distinguished Service Award Recipient
When it came to delivering the sales pitch for Saint John's University, Vic Moore '72 could not have asked for more legendary persuasion.
Back in 1968, when the high school senior and standout athlete from Montgomery, Minn., was considering his college choices, he received a joint visit from SJU football coach
John Gagliardi and basketball coach
Jim Smith.
"They'd both come to watch my games," recalls Moore, who went on to play football, basketball and baseball at SJU.
"And then they came to my house together and took my mom, my dad and I out to dinner. It was a pretty special evening. I remember just being so tickled that here was my family with these two already-famous guys sitting down for dinner at the Torchlight in Montgomery."
Five decades later, Moore would be on-hand again as the president of the SJU J-Club, helping enshrine both Gagliardi and Smith as the charter members of the J-Club's Hall of Honor – a continuation of 50-plus years of commitment and service to the school's athletic programs.
"I think of Vic as the consummate Johnnie," said Tom Freeman '08, a former SJU hockey standout who succeeded Moore as J-Club president this past July, and who has gotten to know him well as both have made the rounds at the State Capitol in St. Paul as part of their current day jobs as lobbyists.
"He's always talking about Johnnie sports. And it's not just the sports he played either. He'll stop me in the halls of the capitol to ask me if I saw how the wrestling team or the hockey team did that past weekend. I think he's probably attended more Johnnie athletic events than anybody else over the course of his lifetime."
Smith – who retired in 2015 after recording 786 career victories, the most of any head coach at any level of Minnesota college basketball – said Moore's passion was evident during his playing days when he emerged as a key contributor on the basketball court.
"Vic was a great teammate," Smith said. "A true team player. He was competitive and tough – a rugged rebounder.
"Vic was one of fastest players (on the team) and usually won the line drills against all teammates. He was an excellent shooter and had a great left-handed jump shot. He was on a team that at one time started all left-handers."
Moore's connection to Saint John's only deepened in the years following his graduation, even as he became a heavy hitter in state government. He served first as a Planning Director with the Minnesota State Planning Agency, then for 22 years on the DFL leadership staff in the Minnesota State Senate (including 13 years as chief of staff) as the top lieutenant for former Sen. Roger Moe.
He went on to work as a lobbyist for Rider Bennett, LLP from 2003-07 before becoming co-owner of Franzen and Moore, the influential government relations firm he founded with attorney Doug Franzen 13 years ago.
Yet he still found time to support his alma mater, serving on the SJU Alumni Board and with the J-Club – including as president the past five years, during which time he was a key part of getting the Hall of Honor off the ground.
"He didn't want to be honored because he's such a humble guy, but he lives and breathes Johnnie athletics," Freeman said. "He's so selfless and he's always been a role model for me. I'm just lucky he's staying around (with the J-Club) because I don't even want to think of what it would be like to try to fill his shoes without having him here."
Moore said it's the people he has gotten to know over the years that have kept his connection to SJU so strong.
"It's a special place," he said. "I could see that as soon as I first stepped foot on campus. It just felt like the place I belonged. I tell students now that their connection is only going to grow stronger after they graduate.
"That's when they'll realize the connection they have to SJU, and the people who have come through there, is going to last throughout their lives."
