Wife of Mal Moore, Alabama Coach and A.D., Passes Away, but the Love Continues

At the age of 29, Mal Moore took a wife. Her name was Charlotte, and together they had one daughter, Heather, and two grandchildren—a boy named Charles and a girl named Anna.

This composes the side of Mal Moore not many people knew. He is a devoted husband, father, and a loving grandfather.

Today, Charlotte finally succumbed to an illness she and Mal have been fighting for almost 20 years, Alzheimer's disease.

It is one of the cruelest of all diseases, as it takes away what is the person but leaves a frail body to care for. Mal endured this fight with her and was the spear of the fight for so many years.

Many may not realize just what a magnificent coach this man was prior to his career as an athletics director. As a player and coach, he has been involved with seven of our national championships. Up to this year, he was the offensive coordinator for the last four championships.

When I see Mal today, I still call him Coach. Despite his many accomplishments as perhaps one of the best athletic directors in America, he will always be Coach Moore to many of us.

His love of coaching was almost as deeply held as his love for Charlotte. Once she became diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he fought to keep her active and at home and stayed true to what he had always been—her champion.

The hours that coaches have to put in and the long recruiting trips they have to make made it impossible for Mal to continue coaching. In 1994, he left coaching to care for Charlotte. He took a job in the athletic department so he could spend more time taking care of her at home himself.

That move, though tragic for the reasons of taking it, proved instrumental for Alabama's future. In 1999, after a long search for a new athletic director, they turned inward to an existing athletic department employee, Mal Moore. The rest, as they say, is history.

No other administrator oversaw such fundraising and expansion of facilities as has happened under Moore. Today, much of the success we enjoy can be traced back to this man's vision of what he knew we could achieve.

Moore fought the good fight with his wife, keeping her at home far longer than many thought could be done but finally having to turn her over to professional care once the disease progressed far too much.

During those early days, the health insurance plan Moore was under did not pay for a nurse to sit with her during the eight or so hours a day he had to attend to his duties as an athletic department employee. So a few of us got online and raised a little money to help with the expenses.

It was a relatively small amount, but we wanted to help the man we knew as a friend, who was never too busy or distracted to say hello when you were in town or to come to your town to speak to your group.

Today, Moore starts his life without Charlotte, though in actuality, she has been gone for many years already. That is the nature of this awful disease.

To Mal, we once again wish you the best and pray for your happiness. You have fought the good battle; now it's time for you to enjoy the fruits of your labors. We look forward to being with you once again, to hear the great stories you have to tell and to enjoy being your friend like always.

To Heather and her children, thank you for sharing Charlotte with us all the years that you did. She was in a sense another mom to us too, always quick with a smile and a funny story of her own.

Though the final fight with this disease is now over, nothing can take the memories or the love Mal had for Charlotte from him, or the memory from us as he stood by her all these years and fought the great fight. Mal, you are a man among men.