America sure loves its sports stars. From LeBron James to Albert Pujols to Tom Brady, great athletes are elevated to a transcendent level of glory for their accomplishments on the court, pitch and field.
But before the age of cable tv, the Internet and mass media, sports legends didn’t quite get the recognition that they do now.
Lenny Moore was one of those athletes.
Moore, a running back from Penn State University, was drafted ninth overall in the 1956 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts.
He went on to play 12 seasons with the Colts, rushing for 5,174 yards and 63 touchdowns in his illustrious career. Moore, along with legendary quarterback Johnny Unitas, made the Colts one of the premier teams in professional football for nearly a decade. Moore was also named to seven Pro Bowls, and, later on, the NFL 1950s All-Decade Team. He was never able to win a championship, although he helped the Colts get to the big game in 1964, where they ultimately lost 27-0 to the Cleveland Browns.
The Reading, Pennsylvania, native earned a lot of nicknames throughout his career, most notably “Sputnik,” “The Reading Rambler” and “Lightning Lenny.”
Eddie Epstein, the author of “Dominance, the Best Seasons of Pro Football’s Greatest Teams,” labeled Moore as the “Marshall Faulk before Marshall Faulk.”
Moore, now 79, spends his time today working with young kids in Maryland.