Around two hours after former head coach Jerry Moore’s announcement that he was stepping down from his coaching position, an online petition was created to rename Kidd Brewer Stadium to Jerry Moore Stadium.
“We proudly urge Chancellor Peacock and Appalachian State’s Board of Trustees to consider honoring this legendary coach. We recommend changing the name of Kidd Brewer Stadium to Jerry Moore Stadium or something similar. If the naming rights to the stadium are not available, please consider renaming the field, or other prominent road or building in honor of Jerry Moore,” states the petition, which was signed “Fans of Coach Jerry Moore and Appalachian State.”
The petition was the brainchild of Appalachian alumnus John Miller, who is in charge of the Twitter account @appstatenation to “entertain fellow Mountaineers” and keep followers updated on sports at Appalachian State.
“I check goasu.com more than any sane person should, so I heard about [Moore’s resignation] that way,” Miller said. “Honestly, my stomach dropped when I heard the news. I’m an App State fan always, but I was also a Jerry Moore fan in particular. He’s just a good human being and an excellent model for success.”
As of press time, the petition had already gained 375 signatures out of the 500 requested, although Miller did not seem too concerned about the actual number. He said he just plans to send it to Chancellor Peacock once it reaches its peak.
“I’m not sure if we’ll actually get the stadium renamed,” Miller said. “Obviously everything comes back to money. But I hope that we at least get something major named after him or maybe a statue. I don’t think that’s too much to ask considering what he did for our university. I also want Jerry Moore to know that he has a lot of fans. Frankly, I’m going to start calling it Jerry Moore Stadium whether it’s official or not.”
To garner attention for the petition, Miller posted it on the Twitter account, which is how junior exercise science major Elizabeth Lear found the petition.
“I choose to sign the petition because of how much Coach Moore has put into the football program and into the university as a whole,” Lear said. “He is the reason our football program is where it is today and he deserves to have his named engraved on the very facility that he coached in.”
But the petition was circulated through more social media sites than just Twitter, including Facebook, which is how senior music education major Brad Beamon found the petition after a friend posted it on his Facebook wall.
“I had just mentioned to him how I always thought Kidd Brewer Stadium would eventually be renamed after all that Moore has done for the university,” Beamon said. “…Brewer has a better winning percentage… than Moore, but Moore put ASU on the map and greatly improved the university’s image. We’ve become a national power thanks to him, and the least we could do is dedicate the stadium to the work he’s done. If it hadn’t been for Moore, Kidd Brewer Stadium would not look that much different than Conrad Stadium from way back when.”
App alumnus Doug Keel said Moore would be “missed on the sidelines,” but he chose not to sign the petition.
“Kidd Brewer was an icon,” Keel said. “Coach Moore, obviously, is too. To generationally scrub a name off a stadium seems shortsighted. He certainly should be honored, I just question completely erasing the past for the present. Brewer-Moore Stadium sounds good to me. But I’m only one voice in the conversation.”
Kidd Brewer Stadium has only had one other name: Conrad Stadium. That name stuck for 26 years until it was changed to its current name to honor former head coach Kidd Brewer in 1988.
Brewer had a 30-5-3 record during his time at Appalachian from 1935-38.
Sports Information Director Mike Flynn said there are many options to honor Moore and that renaming the stadium in his honor is one of them.
However, Flynn said renaming a campus facility is something that can not be changed immediately overnight.
Story: ANNE BUIE, Managing Editor