By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
PEMBERVILLE—Harold “Hal” and Peggy Moore shared a love of horses, sports and their community.
A new basketball court in Pemberville’s Memorial Park is a testament to Hal’s passion for sports, especially basketball, and their mutual commitment to the community.
Village Mayor Carol Bailey and the community came together Monday night to dedicate the new court as the Moore Memorial Basketball Court in memory of Hal Moore, who passed away Jan. 29, 2024.
The planets and the stars aligned in the making of the new court, Bailey explained. Over the years, residents young and old have played on the basketball court that sits next to the Pemberville pool.
A year ago, what started as a group of friends coming together on Monday nights to play basketball on Pemberville’s court turned into a basketball league, appropriately named Monday Night Lights. And the community came out to watch and support the league that grew from eight to 12 teams competing each week.
The league “grew wings, and it walks, and it talks today,” Bailey said. “We were very pleased to have them, but there were problems.”
The aging court “had languished for a long time as a trip-and-fall hazard,” she said.
The perils persisted and the risks of harm increased, but there was no money in the village’s parks and recreation funding to repair or replace the court.
“The arrival of the Monday Night Lights League renewed attention to our court surface” and prompted an active search for how it could be resolved, Bailey said.
It started with an idea to seek funding from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Natureworks. With input from Monday Night Lights Co-Commissioner Quinten Farmer, the proposal to restore the court was approved and the village received a grant to cover 39% of the replacement cost.
“It provided just enough interest to get the ball rolling in the right direction,” Bailey said.
Donations came in from residents, “that moved the ball further in the right direction.”
Peggy Moore knew Hal, a three-year starter for the Eastwood High School varsity basketball team in the early 1960s, would have enjoyed the basketball league and would want to see it continue. She sent a generous donation one week, and several weeks later provided an additional donation, stating, “Hal would want to send another gift for the basketball court.”
The second envelope was the last gift that enabled the village to move forward with plans to provide a fresh, new surface, widen it enough to add a three-point line, and to change the direction, Bailey announced.
After Peggy mailed the second donation and knew the court was going to be completed and named for her beloved husband, she had every intention to celebrate Hal’s love of basketball with the community and his compassion for others. Sadly, Peggy died May 19, just two weeks before the ceremony.
The Moore family—Hal’s brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews—attended the dedication, provided free ice cream for attendees, and spoke about Hal and Peggy’s generous hearts.
“I hope you have known their impact. They always had a project in the works that always benefited others,” said their sister-in-law, Linda Moore.
“Tonight was never about Hal or Peg,” Linda said. “Peg talked about this evening often, and she just wanted it to be about playing basketball and lots of ice cream.”
League co-commissioner Quinten Farmer was honored to be part of the ceremony. “I’ve had nightmares of Monday Night Lights and it failing. I honestly didn’t think we were going to get a new basketball court by this summer,” he said.
The project was possible because of the Moore family, the many other donations, and the hard work and dedication to get it done in time for the 2025 kickoff on June 9 at 8:15 p.m.
“To see it just all come together now, I couldn’t be more thankful from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
Hal’s compassion for people and love for sports will be carried on in the village through this basketball court for years to come, Bailey said.
“Peg and Hal together are gathering right now to watch the games as they always watched games together,” Linda said. “I guarantee they’ll be watching the ball that goes on here tonight and in the future.”
