‘I just try to keep her spirit alive’
Mother’s tough battle with brain cancer fuels new Titans guard Moore: ‘She was my biggest fan’
Devon Moore smiled politely as he was introduced as one of the dozen members of this season’s K-W Titans basketball club.
Things would have been much different had his mom, Carolyn, been able to attend the roster announcement Wednesday at RIM Park.
“She would have been here in the gym,” said the Columbus native. “She would already have a shirt made and pompoms.”
It has been about 2½ years since Carolyn died from pneumonia while fighting brain cancer. She was only 58.
She was a wife, mother of four and a beautician by trade. And she always supported her kids. “She was my biggest fan,” said Moore. “I heard my mom (from the stands) more than I heard my coach half the time in my career.”
So Wednesday’s official welcome to Kitchener certainly stung.
The Titans unveiled their final roster for the upcoming National Basketball League of Canada season after a weeklong training camp.
The lineup includes two returnees, three league veterans from competing clubs and seven players culled from various roundball circuits across the world. Moore is one of the global recruits. The 28-year-old has played pro ball in Hungary, Ukraine and most recently in Germany after wrapping up his court career at James Madison University in Virgina.
Moore had other options. German club Ehingen Urspring wanted him back. But something felt right in Kitchener.
Cousin A.J. Davis, who played for the Titans last season, was the chief promoter. Coach Serge Langis was also convincing and sees the six-foot-four guard as a potential top 10 offensive threat in the league.
“He’s going to score,” said the skipper. “I want people to circle his name on scouting reports and to know they have to keep him under wraps.”
Moore has always trusted his gut when looking for a home on the hardwood.
He had Columbus high schools drooling after averaging about 30 points per game in an undefeated season at Monroe Alternative Middle School in Grade 8.
But he bypassed the top teams and chose Northland where he — and others — helped turn the school’s struggling hoops program around.
It was the same story at college where Moore opted for James Madison University over bigger names because it was the right fit.
He’s getting that same vibe from Langis and the Titans.
“To be wanted somewhere is great,” said Moore, who led James Madison to its first NCAA tournament in 19 years as a senior in 2013. “I feel welcome here. It’s a good feeling.” And it’s one he wishes he could share with his mom.
“At times like these, I want to call home and talk to her,” he said. “She was the glue in our family when something happened good or bad. I couldn’t ask for a better woman to raise and guide me.”
In many ways, she’s still with Moore on the court.
A tattoo on his right bicep carries his mom’s motto “Walk by faith, not by sight.” On game days, the floor general ties a bracelet with her birthday on it around his ankle, prays and always says her name.
“I just try to keep her spirit alive and with me,” he said.
“All I can ask for is to keep her legacy going through me.”
The Titans open the season against the Windsor Express Nov. 18 at the Aud.