City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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Chuck Moore is used to having his younger brother by his side.

When Ronald Moore was in his senior year at Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Chuck had just picked up an assistant job on Jim Donofrio’s staff, sitting on the same bench as his brother, who now plays in Italy for Pistoia Basket 2000.

“Long story short, he goes to Siena, I follow his career overseas, so it’s kind of funny how we transitioned from him watching me to me watching him, but I was also coaching him at the same time,” Chuck added. “It’s been a unique experience, but one I would never trade in for anything.”

The Moore brothers, who each played Division I basketball (Chuck at Vanderbilt and Ronald at Siena) took part in this year’s edition of The Basketball Tournament with the Liberty Ballers, the Northeast Regional 12-seed. Although they lost their tournament opener, 90-79 to Team F.O.E., the Moores’ brief stint at TBT 2016 was just another addition to their long list of basketball experiences.

“I think I’ve become accustomed to (having him with me),” said Chuck, the older of the two brothers. “A lot of times when I was younger playing at Plymouth-Whitemarsh, he’d be on the sidelines at the side baskets, getting shots up--probably not paying too much attention to my games, but he was there.”

For Ronald, being the younger brother and having Chuck as his coach, the experience has given him a new level of respect for his older brother.

“Really, I’ve just been trying show respect to him as the coach,” he said. “Obviously there’s a respect level on and off the court and obviously he trusts me, I trust him, we feed off of each other, so at the end of the day, whatever decision he makes, I go with it, just as a player should with his coach. (Being brothers) makes that a little more fun, and there’s more chemistry.”

With each holding a wealth of experience in their respective fields of coaching and playing--Chuck as the current head coach at Coatesville and Ronald in his professional career in Europe--they’ve been able to join forces under the Liberty Ballers banner in 2015 and 2016.

With Liberty Ballers, the Moores have been able to connect with talented players like C.J. Aiken and Ryan Brooks, who each played their college ball locally at St. Joe’s and Temple.

Ronald and Chuck, despite being brothers, have fit into the fabric of that team without any friction, and have filled their roles well during their two years in TBT.

“It’s been good,” Chuck said. “You’d think, like most brothers, we would be arguing and disagreeing on certain things, but when it comes to putting the team together, I trust his judgement, I rarely ever disagree. For him, being on the sidelines has been good, he’ll ask my suggestions, whenever I call out a play he’ll run it. Unlike most brothers, there’s no beef or arguments, it’s all run smoothly. It’s a unique position for us to be in.”

TBT isn’t the only platform on which the Moore brothers have been able to put their knowledge of the game and brotherly connection to good use.

Over the past year, they’ve been using the platform of “Moore Brothers Basketball” as their way of giving back to the basketball community. Through Moore Brothers, Chuck and Ronald work with kids ages 7-16 in the Plymouth-Whitemarsh area, running developmental 3-on-3 leagues at Miles Park.

While Chuck may be the coach of the family, running such an organization to work with kids was actually Ronald’s idea, as a way to give back and give himself an opportunity to work in the game once his career in Europe comes to a close.

“Really, I just started thinking that I’m getting towards the end of my career, and I wanted to do something and getting something off the ground that I could do once I stopped playing basketball,” said Ronald. “So right now it’s something small, but hopefully we can keep growing, we want to touch on all aspects of basketball. Obviously it’s the summer now, so I can do this while I’m home, but once I’m done playing, we can do stuff throughout the year. We were looking to touch every avenue of basketball, so that’s kind of where I got the idea.”

“It’s been good,” Chuck added. “With the feedback I’ve been getting from parents and the community leaders, it’s been a beautiful thing.”

The example of Chuck as an experienced coach has been key for Ronald in developing an ability to work with young athletes. Ronald, who has spent his basketball career playing with professional and college-level talent, learned from his older brother in finding ways to shift his focus to kids of all ages and ability levels.

“I think just being patient, because right now with me as a player, you kind of want these young kids to do stuff that they might not even have the knowledge or capability of doing,” he said. “I know what I was capable of at a certain age, but with other kids you can’t get frustrated when they can’t do something, so it’s just all being patient working with kids and the fundamentals.”

With years of experience--as players, coaches, and most importantly, brothers--behind them, the future certainly seems bright for the Moore brothers and for Moore Brothers Basketball.

“It’s an opportunity for us to give back, and that’s how it started,” Chuck concluded. “Being two guys who fell in love with the game, saw what it did for us, as far as meeting new people, being able to travel the world, and heck, get a college degree from two prestigious universities, we know what the impact of the game can bring, we know the benefits, so for us to pay that forward to any young kid is our main focus.”

“There’s always going to be kids,” he joked. “So as long as there are kids, there’s going to be Moore Brothers.”