Former West Limestone varsity boys coach Jeff Prince knew the future of his program was about to get much better when he heard about the play of an eighth-grader at Owens Elementary school.  

The young player was named Jackie Moran and he was overwhelming teams with his feathery jump shot. 

He even once scored 42 points in game while at Owens. 

“We were pretty good at West Limestone, but when Jackie joined our team as a ninth-grader, we became really good,” Prince said. 

Moran served as the sixth man during his freshman season with the Wildcats. 

Moran became a full-time starter at shooting guard during his sophomore season and led West Limestone to heights not seen in the program in more than 30 years. 

Moran helped guide the Wildcats to two Final Four berths as well as two county championships.

“Jackie was as good an offensive player that I ever coached at West Limestone,” Prince said. “He was tough to guard. If you crowded him on the perimeter, he could go by you with either hand. If you slacked off of him, he would make you pay with a 3-pointer. As a 6-3 shooting guard with good athletic skills, Jackie made it difficult for opposing teams trying to defend him.”

Try as they may, teams did have trouble dealing with the sharpshooting Moran. 

He played in 116 games for the Wildcats and averaged 17.8 points per game. He averaged 24 points per game during his senior season. Moran graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer (2,069 points) while connecting on an impressive 42% of his 3-point field goal attempts. His top scoring output was 46 points against Brooks, which at the time was just one point shy for the most points scored in a game in program history. Moran earned All-County, County MVP, All-Area and All-State honors. He was nominated for the McDonald’s All-American basketball team following his senior season. 

Moran credits a lot of his scoring prowess to the time he spent in the summers at the David Lipscomb University basketball camp. 

“I went to the Lipscomb camp every summer from the second grade through my junior year in high school,” Moran said. “The head coach at Lipscomb, Don Meyer, and the camp assistants really stressed the fundamentals on shooting the basketball. I soaked in what I learned and worked hard on trying to become a good shooter. We had some really good teams at West Limestone and were so close to winning a couple of state championships.”

Moran had a chance to play for Meyer at Lipscomb but decided to attend Walker College and play for 2004 LCSHOF inductee Glen Clem. 

“I gave some thought about playing for coach Meyer, but I hoped by going the junior college route I might could improve and receive some Division 1 offers after two seasons,” Moran said. “I enjoyed playing for coach Clem, but I injured my knee after my freshman year and took a redshirt the following year. I decided to transfer to Martin Methodist College to play my sophomore season.”

Moran averaged 18 points per game for Martin Methodist while earning All-Conference honors in his only season with the Indians. Martin Methodist head coach Joe Hardin took an assistant coach position at Athens State and Moran decided to follow Hardin to ASU, where he played two years for another 2004 LCSHOF inductee, Harold Murrell. 

“We were good during my two years at Athens State, especially my junior year,” Moran said. “We played against some outstanding teams and players. We were unfortunate in having to compete in one of the toughest, if not the toughest, NAIA region in the country. Had we been placed in another region, I believe we would have had a real shot of reaching the national tournament.”

While the Bears might have fallen short of reaching postseason tournaments, Moran had a distinguished two years in the ASU program. He averaged 12.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game during his senior year and was named to the NAIA Southeast Independent All-Region Team.  

Moran says he is honored to be inducted into the LCSHOF. 

“It means a lot to me to be inducted into the Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame,” Moran said. “I played for a lot of good coaches who shaped my career. Coach Prince, coach Clem, coach Hardin and coach Murrell. I give them a lot of credit for this honor. Some of my high school teammates and athletes I competed against are already inducted. So, it is nice to be included with those guys.”