Former West Limestone High School boys’ basketball head 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 would once score 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,” said Prince.

Moran served as the ‘Sixth Man’ during his freshmen season with the Wildcats. Moran would become a full-time starter during his sophomore season at shooting guard and lead West Limestone High School to heights not seen in the program in over 30 years.

Moran would help guide the Wildcats to two ‘Final Four’ berths in the state playoffs and two County Championships during his career at WLHS. “Jackie was as good an offensive player that I ever coached at West Limestone,” said Prince. “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 three-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 24.0 points per game during his senior season. Moran would graduate as the school’s all-time leading scorer (2,069 points) while connecting on an impressive 42% of his three-point field goal attempts. His top scoring output was 46 points against Brooks High School which at the time, was just one-point shy for the most points scored in a game by a Wildcats basketball player in school history. Moran would earn All-County, County MVP, All-Area and All-State honors at WLHS. 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. 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,” said Moran.

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. I enjoyed playing for Coach Clem but I injured my knee after my freshmen year and took a red-shirt the following year. I decided to transfer to Martin Methodist College to play my sophomore season,” said Moran.

Moran would average 18.0 points per game for Martin Methodist while earning All-Conference honors in what would be the only season he would play for the Indians. Moran’s head coach at Martin Methodist Joe Hardin took an assistant coach position at Athens State and Moran decided to follow Hardin to ASU where he would play two years for another 2004 LCSHOF inductee Harold Murrell.

“We were good during my two years at Athens State, especially my junior year,” said Moran. “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 post-season tournaments, Moran had a distinguished two years in the ASU program. He would average 12.4 points per game, 3.3 rebounds per game 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. 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,” said Moran.