Meet Columbine HS head track & field coach Ivory Moore
LITTLETON, Colo. — Ivory Moore has been the coaching track at Columbine High School since 1990 and has been head coach since 2002. He has been a mentor to many young athletes and coaches during those years. He has a special place in his heart for the students, coaches, teachers, and administrators at Columbine, which he describes as a family that takes care of each other. He says, 鈥淲e are unique in a lot of ways, with our unity and supportive atmosphere.鈥�
Ivory grew up in Denver Public Schools, graduating from Manual High School in East Denver in 1967. He ran track and played football, and he said that these sports paved his way to be able to go to college. He received a track scholarship to the University of New Mexico and ran there during a time when the school was very competitive and there were a lot of Olympic runners in the Western Athletic Conference. He was a sprinter, specializing in the 100M and 200M. He learned a lot during his career and carried that experience to Columbine. One of the biggest lessons Ivory said he learned and wants to pass on is, 鈥淲e all want to win, but even if we don鈥檛, we should strive to be the best we can in any way we can.鈥�
Prior to coaching and teaching at Columbine, Ivory coached at Alameda High School and Ken Caryl Middle School. In 1990, the reduction in force (RIF) displaced many teachers and coaches, and he and Ron Mitchell, former principal at Alameda, moved to Columbine. That year, Ivory started coaching track and football and coached with Frank DeAngelis and Dave Sanders, who was tragically killed in the 1999 shooting, among others. Starting in 1994, Ivory also taught Social Studies and was the department manager for a time. He left full-time teaching in 2018 but is still teaching part-time in addition to coaching track and football.
As the head track coach, Ivory has had up to 135 boys and girls in the program. Last year, there were 118 athletes, and he anticipates more for this year鈥檚 season, which runs from mid-February through May. He also works with ten coaches, many of whom are also teachers. He says that track is so specialized now that each discipline has separate coaches and it is a major operation! He said that all types of students participate in track, including dual sports athletes, theater actors, and much more. Ivory told me that Frank DeAngelis did a great job keeping Columbine a family and hired many former students and members of the community. Many of the current track coaches are former Columbine athletes.聽
Ivory and the other coaches start recruiting athletes right after football season and begin the indoor pre-season. He says that this time is critical to the team鈥檚 success because it sets the foundation and gets their bodies acclimated to running. Another key to success is the coaches. Ivory says, 鈥淭hey bring out the best in our kids.鈥�
There are 12 track meets throughout the season, plus regionals and state. Throughout Ivory鈥檚 years as coach, Columbine has had a number of state qualifiers and state champions on the team. He says the true highlights for him are the everyday relationships he can create with the young people he coaches. As a team, Columbine is looking forward to the boys鈥� and girls鈥� state championships. Until two years ago, the Columbine track team trained on a dirt track and had to go to Goddard to run on their all-weather track in bad weather. It was difficult to compete with surrounding school districts that had all-weather tracks and new pole vault and other equipment. But Ivory says, 鈥淲e never used that as an excuse. We trained on our old dirt track and didn鈥檛 complain. We were as competitive as other schools.鈥� But two years ago, Columbine got a new track and is looking forward to a successful season.
Ivory says that the athletes are driven by internal motivation. The coaches encourage them to strive to beat their personal bests and improve with every opportunity. He hopes to continue that philosophy for success each year.
Ivory says, 鈥淚鈥檝e been able to learn more from young people than they can get from me. They are so different today than 20 years ago. You have to listen to them and accept their ideals and ideas about doing things. They are so involved in other things and temptations out there. You have to be alert and open to them. With help from the coaches, I build relationships with each athlete, no matter where they rank on track and field. Everyone has an opportunity to do their best and compete.鈥� Ivory hopes that his athletes continue to build relationships so that when they move on and become adults, have families, and become community leaders, they take on characteristics of the program and the school.
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