By: Daniel Householder and Shelby Lentz
Herman Joseph Moore has caught our attention about as many times as he’s caught footballs. Which is a lot. (He had 670 receptions in his career.) Spanning 12 seasons in the NFL, he now dedicates his time as a motivational speaker and many other activities.
“Being able to send the message to never give up is the best part of being a speaker,” Moore said, “I love being able to show I am no different than any of the students in the crowd.”
Sponsored through the National Guard, Mr. Moore was able to attend our small town school. He kept the crowd’s attention through his humorous stories about not giving up and achieving your goals. Moore emphasized that if you stick to your plan, and always improve upon it, you can be as successful (if not more) than him.
“I liked it. It helped me learn that even from poor circumstances you can still do good things,” said Justin Benjamin ‘15.
Just this year, he has spoken to over thirty schools. Over the course of his speaking career, he has spoken to hundreds all over the country.
However, motivational speaking is not the only thing he does. Moore still makes time to help out with the Lions every chance he gets. He has even been on local radio stations, as well as television stations. OH, not to mention he has his own software company and also a coffee roasting company known as “Collectible Beans.” You can find Collectible Beans’ website at colletiblebeans.com. Any coffee goer will love the website. (I know I will be purchasing some in the future!)
This busy man was able to come to our school thanks to the help of Sergeant First Class Brautigam and Sergeant First Class Johnson who are both recruiters for the National Guard.
“It was a rival between Plainwell and Petoskey. Usually the schools that are sponsored through the National Guard are usually high ranked in my book anyways,” said Moore referring to how Plainwell placed amongst the rest of the hundreds of schools he’s been to. Given the chance, he would make a happy return to our small town.
“The worst part of speaking,” he said and took a few second pause, “is when it ends. That’s it.” Hopefully in the near future, this dedicated motivational speaker can make his return to our small town.
“I think it would be fun to have him back! He seems like a really good person and I think that a lot of people in the school need to hear what he has to say multiple times,” said Brittany Molenaar ‘18.
