In 1959,
a Senatobia, Mississippi, man was named "The South's Super Cow-Man"
by a nationally-syndicated publication. Although the designation sounds like
the subject of a "Far Side" cartoon, the recognition was
well-deserved.
Edwin
Earle Moore had three sons, one of whom was Maurice Paul. After graduating from
Senatobia High School in 1922, M.P. Moore went to college at the University of
Alabama, where he played baseball for the Crimson Tide. During his college
career, Moore was known for his fastball and earned the nickname
"Hot" because of it. As a pitcher for Alabama, he lost just one game
in three years' time. After graduating in 1926, Moore played for a few
years in the minor leagues. "Hot" Moore wasn't the only athlete in the family either. After lettering at Senatobia High School, Buchanan Moore played at Ole Miss. Tragically, he was killed in 1935 when his Chevrolet Coach
left the highway west of Grenada and he was impaled on a bridge piling. He was
just twenty five years old. One of "Hot" Moore's teammates at Alabama was Grant
Gillis, who went on to play shortstop in the big leagues with the Washington Senators
and with Boston after a stint with the Birmingham Barons. He also played
football for the Crimson Tide, and was a halfback in the 1926 Rose Bowl
(above) against the University of Washington. During the game, Gillis, weighing in at
just 165 pounds, threw a fifty yard pass, intercepted a pass late in the game to
end a scoring threat by the Huskies, and punted five times for an average of
40.8 yards per kick. It was at the 1926 Rose Bowl (played on New Year's Day in 1927) that Alabama's Crimson
Tide players stepped off the train sporting luggage from Rosenberger's
Birmingham Trunk Company with the company's red elephant logo on the tag. According to some,
this was the origin of Alabama's elephant mascot (although the University cites a
different story).
With
his earnings from playing in the minor leagues, "Hot" Moore bought a
380-acre farm in Tate County in 1926 and started raising cattle instead of
growing cotton. Moore felt that the South had relied too heavily on cotton and
decided to use the land to produce cattle instead. To that end, he purchased
his first cows and bulls in 1933 from nationally-known breeders out west. Then,
in 1940, he spent a whopping $3,500 on a breeder cow (the same amount of money
he earned playing baseball) in hopes of producing a champion herd on his own 'Circle
M Ranch.' He would not be disappointed. With his prize bulls and breeder cows,
Moore began building his own herd and by 1951 was recognized at Mississippi's Man of the Year in Agriculture. In 1959, Reader's Digest, with a circulation of nearly 20 million, proclaimed him "The South's
Super Cow-Man" and featured him as one of the May 1959 cover stories. It
would be one of many honors and awards he received in more than sixty-five
years in the cattle business. In 1963, he set a world's record for an average
price for cattle when he sold fifty Herefords for an average of $7,965 per head.
Six years later, he was inducted in the American Polled Hereford Association
Hall of Fame and served as president of the association three times. He was also elected a member of the Mississippi Cattlemen's Hall of Fame.
The 'Circle
M Ranch' brand of cattle remains one of the best known in the world. Maurice
Paul Moore started his cattle empire at age twenty-one. Building on a business
foundation first established by his grandfather, "Hot" Moore (left) excelled
in his chosen profession through hard work and determination. Along the way, he helped organize the Mississippi Farm Bureau Insurance Company, served two terms as director and board chairman of the Memphis Federal
Reserve Bank and was on the board of the Baptist Memorial
Hospital in Memphis for twenty years. "Hot" Moore died at his home in 1992 at age 86, leaving behind a proud legacy which continues today.
And that's no bull.
Photo and Image Sources:
(1) Gabbert: http://www.findagrave.com
(2) Rose Bowl: http://www.remembertherosebowl.com
(3) Moore: http://www.findagrave.com
(4) Reader's Digest: http://www.library.yale.edu
Thank you for writing this neat blog post! My grandfather, Jim DeMuth, was the herd manager of Circle M from 1948-1960. My mom and her 8 siblings were all born there and have fond memories of the Moore family. My family continues to raise cattle to this day!
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing this nice article about my Grandfather, M.P. "Hot" Moore. It was a privilege to know him, and an honor to be his granddaughter. His legacy of hard work, marketing genius, and most importantly love for others and God and generosity to others, lives on through his daughters, grandchildren, and now great grandchildren.
ReplyDelete