The pride of Poplar Bluff

DJ Hubrins is listed as a 6-foot, 350-pound freshman on the Poplar Bluff football roster this season.

He’s been playing football since kindergarten and said that his dad was a linebacker at New Madrid County Central when he played. As an offensive linemen, he enjoys his job of protecting the quarterback.

He wears No. 77.

That happens to be the same number Derland Moore wore when he was playing offensive line for the Mules in the late 1960s.

“I just picked a random number,” Hubrins said.

Before this week, Hubrins had not heard of Moore, who was an All-American at Oklahoma before a 14-year NFL career.

Moore died Thursday at age 68.

“Derland lived up to every honor Poplar Bluff, the Oklahoma Sooners and the New Orleans Saints bestowed upon him,” said Chris Rushin, vice president of the Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame. “He was the most successful athlete to ever come out of PBHS in any sport and his story has been and will always be an inspiration that with hard work and determination anything is possible.

“Derland was worthy of being a true hero to immolate as I and many others try to do. I will miss my friend.”

Poplar Bluff athletes might recognize the name from the Derland Moore Field sign at Morrow Stadium, or know the Derland Moore Award given to the best defensive player in the SEMO Conference and another award given to the Poplar Bluff football player “exemplifying a dedication to the game through perseverance, personal sacrifice and hard work.”

The plaque hangs outside the weight room at the Senior High with Moore pictured, wearing his Saints jersey, taking a knee. It features names like Cole Laws, last year’s award winner, Bi Nguyen, Jacob Sliger, Jimmy Dye, Todd Tinsley, Jeff Mannon, Russell Kennedy, Joe Griffin, Greg Nagy, Kurt DiCiro and Rushin, the 1984 award winner.

Students walk past it every day and may not know the story.

“Not really,” said current Mules defensive lineman Lonnie Ruff. “But the way coach was talking about him he sounded like a great guy.”

If the main character in the movie “Rudy” was 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, the plot would have been just like Derland Moore’s life.

Even he couldn’t believe it.

Stan Berry, who could be credited as a screenwriter covering Moore for the DAR, recalled a few of his favorite stories about his friend Friday.

“Derland was getting recruited for track and Mizzou was one of the places that he was talking to,” Berry said. “Basically, he asked if he went out for track at Mizzou could he go out for football.

“They told him no, don’t waste your time or ours by going out for football.”

The Oklahoma Sooners track coach was in need of a thrower and Moore just happened to be throwing at a meet there. Moore asked if he could go out for the football team and the answer was yes. He earned a football scholarship and started for three years, playing the Missouri Tigers each year.

“He said it was a play on the sidelines and he knocked the Mizzou player literally uner the bench,” Berry said. “And he said when he got up he was standing right there by the coach, Dan Devine. He said, ‘I’m Derland Moore. Remember me? I wasn’t good enough to play for you.’

“And as he ran back out on the field he heard Devine say, ‘Is it too late to reconsider?’”

Devine, as it turned out, was the Notre Dame coach when the real “Rudy” was a walk-on for the Irish.

Berry recalls Moore saying that every time they played the Tigers he always put on his “120% performance” and he was always the lineman of the game every time they played Mizzou.

In one of those games, Berry said, the running back Moore had just tackled said, “Hi D, how are you?” It turned out to be former Mules teammate Leroy Moss.

In the middle of the game, Moss yells to Moore, “Hey, by the way, right after the game Sam wants us to get together for a picture.”

If you don’t know Sam or Leroy, Eddie, Hosie and Mike; or Billy, Otis, Ott, ET or EE; John Brown or John VanOrman; Cindy, Dena, LaRita, Mary, Tara, Teresa, Tenisha or any of Poplar Bluff’s honored athletes, there’s a place on Main Street that can help. It was once a school but now it offers lessons on most Sundays.

Derland Moore’s name was added in 1987 after he retired from the NFL.

It’s another reason why this place is so special.

“What a life I’ve had,” Moore said after the field at Morrow Stadium was dedicated.

“I’ve been very blessed. People have just been wonderful to me. I know I’m beat up and everything right now is pretty bad, but it was worth it.

“I wish I had another pair of knees to sacrifice.”