Dr. John Malcolm Moore Jr.
Moore made massive strides in the urology field in Arkadelphia. He worked as a physician while on military duty with the Air Force.
“The Andy Griffith Show,” a fixture on television from 1960 to 1968, was set in the fictional small town of Mayberry. Led by Andy Griffith playing the character of Sheriff Andy Taylor, the show was populated by Mayberry’s sometimes eccentric but mostly lovable characters. It didn’t take long for Mayberry to become a synonym for an idyllic place to live — a small town where everyone is friendly and kind.
Dr. Malcolm Moore — known by all with his nickname “Mack” — points to his long and successful medical career as a urologist in Little Rock as due in part to his own Mayberry — in this case it was the town of Arkadelphia.
“Growing up in [Arkadelphia] was an [absolute] blessing,” Moore says. “I know it shaped me.”
Retired from his medical practice in 2013, Moore’s impact on the practice of urology in the state is significant.
“Mack Moore has been both an innovator and leader in urological care in Arkansas for over four decades,” says E. Scot Davis, CEO of Arkansas Urology. “His legacy of service in urology but also in the community should be recognized and honored. However, knowing Dr. Moore personally he is quite humble and would likely say this is such a fuss for someone who just enjoys taking care of people.”
The Arkansas Urology Foundation has a vision to raise “funds to enhance programs and services Arkansas Urology provides our patients through world-class care.” The foundation was set to hold its 25th Anniversary Silver Ball at the Little Rock Marriott at the end of August and the honoree of the Silver Ball was to be Mack Moore.
The increasing number of cases of the delta variant had other plans.
“The 25th Anniversary Silver Ball is enormously important to our AU Family,” says Chris Shenep, director of The Arkansas Urology Foundation. “However, after the surge in cases with the new delta variant, we have decided to postpone the event with plans that it will be held later in the months to come. With well over 600 guests expected to attend, we feel we cannot hold such a major fundraiser and risk it becoming a super-spreading event.”
The Silver Ball will eventually take place but Moore’s colleagues in medicine don’t want the spotlight to completely fade off of the doctor from Arkadelphia.
“He was instrumental in creating Arkansas Urology and the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation,” says Dr. Tim Goodson, a urologist working out of the Arkansas Urology clinic. “Both examples of being forward thinking in how the practice of medicine and treatment of disease were evolving. I remember early on in my life Dr. Moore was the physician that took care of both my grandfather and my father. I grew up seeing him as a physician leader. I looked to his practice and his impact on patient care when as a medical student
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I began the process of choosing a specialty.”
ARKADELPHIA BOY
Moore’s first memory in his life is a vivid one.
“I remember going to the post office with my mother,” Moore recalls. “We got the notification that my father was going off to serve in World War II. I believe I said, ‘Don’t cry Mother, maybe the Germans won’t kill him.’”
Moore, who describes himself as a “spoiled only child,” talks about his hometown of Arkadelphia in reverent tones, as a place that was ideal for his particular situation. His parents were a crucial part of the social and business life in Arkadelphia.
“My father was the part owner of KYRE, the local radio station,” Moore says. “Then he had an auto parts business and later he was the town postmaster. My mother was a housewife. She was very active in church and social functions in town. She was a wonderful mentor for living a very positive life. She had an exuberant personality. She was well thought of and well liked in Arkadelphia.”
Though Moore didn’t have brothers or sisters, he did have Arkadelphia and it was the kind of place where someone like Moore couldn’t get lost or forgotten.
“It was a wonderful town,” Moore says. “I had so many close friends. I never felt lonely as an only child. The town would open its arms to you.”
Sports was an interest for Moore early on in life. As he discovered sports that required a bit of speed to be good, he realized that he wasn’t destined to play basketball or football. However, golf was another matter altogether.
“I started to caddie for my dad when I was 11 or 12,” Moore says. “We didn’t have a golf pro at the Arkadelphia Country Club, so we would go to Hot Springs and take lessons.”
He must have received some good lessons. Moore turned out to be a pretty spectacular golfer, eventually playing for the Arkansas Razorback golf team. In 2012, he was inducted into the Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame.
“I had more success as a senior golfer,” Moore says. “I played on the National American Senior Team and played matches against the Europeans. That was a wonderful experience.”
As with golf, Moore’s attraction to medicine began fairly early in his life. There were no doctors in his immediate family but he found
“My specialty in urology ended up being a great choice. As a urologist you treat geriatrics and adult men and women and children. It was a specialty where when someone came in with a problem, you could treat them. In a great majority of cases, you could alleviate their pain or illness. It was something that was very satisfying to be able to contribute in that way.” (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Cary Jenkins)
role models in Arkadelphia who showed him what being a physician was about.
“I was always enthralled by medicine and looked up to town doctors there in Arkadelphia,” Moore says. “I went to them as a patient and in the summer I worked at the Clark County Hospital. My father couldn’t afford to go to medical school and that thought stayed with me. I knew I needed to pay attention in science class and keep my grades up.”
There was no doubt that Moore was headed for college but he didn’t feel any rush to be done with high school. He was a popular student making good grades.
“High school was a wonderful experience,” Moore says. “I was president of the senior class. It was a great time for me.”
A KIDNEY STONE
Thanks to a golf scholarship, Moore spent his freshman year at Ouachita Baptist College in his hometown. Then he transferred to Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas where Moore says he was “very active in fraternity life.” Moore says friends he made at UA have remained friends and been important to him throughout his life. Medical school brought on a new set of challenges for Moore as the days of “cramming for tests the night before and making good grades” were over.
“You had to keep up on a regular basis,” Moore says.
Moore’s medical specialty wasn’t official until his internship in Miami, and that was only due to a traumatic event — specifically, the passing of a kidney stone.
The pain of passing a kidney stone is particularly severe. The lessening of that pain is what Moore focused on and what eventually made up his mind as the direction he would take as a doctor.
“My specialty in urology ended up being a great choice,” Moore says. “As a urologist you treat geriatrics and adult men and women and children. It was a specialty where when someone came in with a problem, you could treat them. In a great majority of cases, you could alleviate their pain or illness. It was something that was very satisfying to be able to contribute in that way.”
Moore returned to Arkansas for his residency in urology at the University of Arkansas of Medical Sciences. It wasn’t long before Moore would end up traveling outside of the state thanks to the U.S. Air Force.
“At the time, military duty was required of all healthy young men,” Moore says. “The Berry Program by the government allowed me to finish my medical education if I agreed to serve time in the armed forces. I chose the Air Force because I thought I would get to see a lot of the world. During my time in the service, I went to Spain, Germany and Great Britain.”
One of his main tasks as a physician in the Air Force kept him close to home.
“My duties while as a physician in the service were to maintain the health and safety of my flight crews and their support staff, which included me visiting all of the subterranean reinforced missile silos that were in south Arkansas which carried nuclear warheads that could be programmed to strike any target anywhere in the world.
I would travel by helicopter to the missile sites to ensure their health and safety were being met.”
Being stationed in Little Rock meant that Moore could rent an apartment in the capital city.
“Living in the next apartment were nurses that I knew from my medical school days,” Moore says. “I went over to borrow sheets and pillows and met a woman.”
The woman was Barbara Ann and Moore says there was an immediate attraction.
“I had done a lot of looking around at that point in my life,” Moore says. “She went to Hendrix and I knew she was very intelligent. She was a combination of beauty and brains.”
The two would marry and then have two sons and three grandchildren.
“I have to mention my handicapped son who lives with a caretaker,” Moore says. “He was born with a non-verbal form of cerebral palsy. He is such a special person. He created in me a sensitivity for a special needs person that I would have never known. He certainly made me a better physician.”
THE DOCTOR
Moore admits that he “misses the practice of medicine” even as retirement does give him more time to play golf.
It doesn’t take him long to revert back to the mode of the thoughtful doctor. He is baffled that so many are not getting vaccinated against covid.
“If you will look at the medical facts, we have something that prevents this disease and helps people survive the disease,” Moore says. “It is so foolish for people not to take a vaccination when it has been [shown] to be helpful. It makes it so tragic. All these lives have been lost.”
During the time before his retirement, Moore watched as advances in technology changed how he treated his patients.
“Electronic medical records had a huge impact on practice of medicine,” Moore says. “Then there were technological changes in surgeries such as robotic and diagnostic advancements such as computerized scans, digital imaging, and the ability for physicians to do a whole body PET scan and see in real time any abnormalities like tumors.”
Whatever changes Moore dealt with, he says that he had an “old-fashioned approach” to his medical practice and to dealing with his patients.
“I was always proud to know that my friends were my patients and my patients my friends.”