In the Beginning …

What’s an MHSAA? It’s Moore High School Alumni Association. There were actually two alumni associations until 2019. Bet you didn’t know that! The “old” alumni association included graduates from 1921-1958 and that group officially disbanded in 2019.

Remember that the original Moore school was established in 1899. The location in downtown Moore that we refer to as The Old School* was built in 1928. For many years to follow, it held ALL Moore students - elementary, junior high and high school.

The building that now holds Central Junior High School was built as the new high school. The first students filled the halls and classrooms in the 1958-1959 school year.

When I was at MHS way back in the mid 70’s, we had a teacher and coach, Linda "Tex" Bryant. Ms. Bryant graduated from Moore High School in 1965. She was an MHS teacher and coach during her teaching career that extended from 1970 to 1998.  This lady was the someone who realized that this large amount of graduates could possibly help the large amount of students.

In the late 80’s, Tex saw that Moore High School students had needs that weren’t being met within the system, by the school, or in some cases by parents.  To meet that need, she brought together a group of fellow alumni and they went to work. The current Alumni Association was formed and recognized as a non-profit organization in the summer of 1989. They collected membership dues and received many generous donations from their classmates. The first endowed scholarship was awarded in 1991 and several more were added over the next fifteen years. 

This group of 60’s grads not only funded and awarded annual scholarships to seniors, they donated to After Prom, the band, and hosted a Christmas basket project among other donations to worthy needs. Another important service was to provide needy students essential items such as:

• food, clothing, graduation clothing,

• school supplies,

• and eyeglasses.

In order to fund this, staff t-shirts were sold annually at MHS, along with seat cushions and car flags. “All Class” reunions were held every three years that included a silent auction. The Alumni Association remained true to the mission and worked tirelessly for the next twenty years. 

“The primary mission of the Moore High School Alumni Association is to provide scholarships and other benevolent services to deserving Moore High School students.”

Thank you for reading. The next blog post is a continuation of the history of MHSAA and is about what we currently do.

*More history on The Old School will be covered in a separate blog.