Wally McCormack glanced at the family's refrigerator door and flashed back to a happier time as Hobart football coach.
"We have one picture that hangs up there and it's of Sam and my son, Brady," McCormack said. "On Halloween, Sam would always bring over trick-or-treat baskets for my kid.
"His senior year, Sam had taken a picture with my son in uniform on our media day and they made it into a magnet thing. Ironically, that's the only picture that's hanging on our refrigerator."
Thursday evening, while out jogging, Sam Moore collapsed and died.
The 2011 Hobart grad and two-sport standout is survived by his parents, Kent and Heidi Moore, and two younger brothers.
A Friday night community candlelight vigil was to be held at the Hobart High School baseball complex. Visitation plans had not been announced at press time.
"He's about the nicest, politest, friendliest kid that I've ever coached," McCormack said. "I've never seen him mad. I've never seen him in a bad mood. I've never heard anybody say anything negative about him.
"Just a throwback kid — very close to his family, very close to his grandpa. They were like sports junkies, the two of them. They'd go everyplace together, watching games and stuff."
A three-year varsity starter, Moore played tight end and punted for the Brickies and was a senior during McCormack's final season as head coach.
"When I was at the hospital (Thursday night), there were a bunch of people sitting there, wanting a logical explanation," McCormack said. "I don't know if there is one when it's somebody that young.
"But the fact it's a guy that wasn't a drinker, wasn't a smoker, was in good shape, was a workout fanatic, tall and skinny as a rail, and treats his body good ..."
McCormack's voice tailed off.
"Most people, if their kid grew up and treated people the way Sam did, they would be very, very happy. There were a lot of kids hurtin' at that hospital."
Sam Moore was the nephew of former Brickie football star Scott Freckelton, who won the 1980 Class 3A Mental Attitude Award and served as defensive line coach for McCormack.
Bob Glover Jr. coached Sam Moore and was quick to make his facility available to the public.
"There's nothing you could say about him that would be an exaggeration," Glover said. "He was truly as good a human being as has ever walked the planet."
This school year, Moore served as a volunteer ninth-grade baseball coach and seventh-grade football coach.
"Though he graduated, he never left us, baseball-wise," Glover said.
Those who knew Sam Moore considered him to be extremely kind, respectful and always conscious of the feelings of others.
Glover noted a Facebook post of another former Hobart baseball player, Tim Staffeld, who as a senior lost his starting first baseman's job to sophomore Moore late in the 2009 regular season.
"I wanted to be mad at him but Sam was such a nice, happy kid that we actually became friends," Staffeld said. "He was a really great teammate and an even better person.
"Sam brought a lot of sunshine and happiness into the world."
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