After 27 years at the helm of the Roanoke College basketball program, coach Page Moir is leaving the Maroons in excellent shape. And much like his father Charlie – former head basketball coach at VA Tech – that means both on the court and off the court . . . helping the community while achieving success on the hardwood.
Moir won Coach of the Year honors in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) this past season, leading the Maroons to a breakthrough 19-6 (11-5 ODAC) record, leaving incumbent coach Clay Nunley with a talented roster for the upcoming year.
Moir, the winningest coach in Maroon history, claimed 428 victories during his career, as well as three ODAC titles and six NCAA tournament berths. His achievements coaching the Maroons were paralleled by his success in helping the community around him.
During Moir’s tenure, the Bast Center played host to many charitable tournaments, such as the V Foundation Classic, in honor of legendary North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano, which raised money for cancer research.
While an assistant coach for Virginia Tech, Moir got to know Valvano and his brother Bob, who was a division three coach at St Mary’s. Following Jim’s death due to cancer in 1993, Moir and Bob Valvano created the V Foundation Classic tournament during the 1993-94 season at Roanoke College to raise money for the cause.
“It was a lot of fun,” Moir said of the V Foundation Classic. “It’s good to be involved with that. I think over the years, we’ve raised a good amount of money for the V foundation, and hopefully encouraged others to give to it, a lot of fun to be involved in an organization that [has] done so much good for mankind.”
In addition to raising money, Moir was a strong advocate of hands-on community service and regularly encouraged his players to volunteer assisting the city schools of Roanoke and the Virginia Special Olympics. “I think as a coach you want to make sure that your young people understand their ability to influence others,” Moir said. “You can have a positive conversation with a kid you never knew, you might be able to put a smile on somebody’s face, and in turn, they’ll do that down the road.”
Maintaining a 100 percent graduation rate throughout his tenure, Moir takes pride in being able to help his players grow and lead them along the right paths in life. “It’s been great to have every young man graduate, [and] that’s very gratifying,” he said. “Coaches should mostly be judged [by the outcomes of] the young people they’ve coached, where they are twenty years after they’ve been coached, and what they’ve become in life. So hopefully you have a positive influence on where they head in life and how they do it, a little of their moral makeup.”
Moir’s positive influence has been significant, with his players branching out into a myriad of different careers and positive life paths. Even just off the top of his head, Moir can recall six former players who became doctors, several lawyers, successful businessmen, and two who served their country through the Navy and Marine Corps after their days on the hardwood were over.
More than just a basketball coach indeed.
Nathan Seidel
