Inductees

For years as a sports fan, he saw when a coach would call the number of the last man on the bench. Chad Moller just didn’t realize that, while in college, it would be his number called. By the sports information director (SID) at the University of Missouri.

Back in 1992, with the football season already under way, Mizzou’s SID office – which handles all media and tons more in the athletic department – brought Moller on following the departure of a staffer. Threw him into the fire, actually.

“It was a grad assistant spot technically, but we worked way too many hours to be able to take graduate classes.  So, I was a GA without being a graduate student!,” Moller said. “But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I learned how to grind 50- to 60-hour work weeks during the season, and that’s what you have to get used to in the business!”

Moller certainly earned respect throughout the athletic department and through print and broadcasting outlets as he rolled up his sleeves and poured his heart into the Mizzou SID office for 26 years. And that’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct Moller with the Class of 2022.

His Mizzou tenure covered 24 consecutive years from 1996 to 2020. In essence, he promoted Mizzou’s 20 sports programs and athletes to the media, managing publicity, promotional and outreach/marketing efforts by telling stories and building relationships with key internal and external constituents.

Along the way, Moller held titles of Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations, Director of Athletic Media Relations, Assistant Director of Athletics-Media Relations and then Associate Director of Athletics-Strategic Communications.

In his time at Mizzou, in football alone, he promoted 12 First Team All-Americans, a Heisman Trophy finalist, a Mackey Award winner, 81 first team all-conference selections, 11 conference Player of the Year winners, two conference Coach of the Year awards, promoted then-No. 1 Mizzou football in 2007 and earned Best in Nation for media guides twice.

“It’s funny, when I was a kid growing up, I’d buy Nebraska football and basketball media guides every single year and memorize the faces, the bio information, the records, etc.,” said Moller, a Nebraska native who attended Mizzou to become a broadcaster. “I loved that, but never did it dawn on me at the time that somebody had to actually produce those publications, and that you could have a career in doing so.”

Judy Egelhoff of the Show-Me State Games had mentored him for two summers with that organization, and it led to Mizzou SID Bob Brendel taking a chance on Moller in 1992.

Two years later, Moller looked for full-time work, including at small college. But an opening at Baylor University cleared a path to an NCAA Division I full-time role.

There, he handled volleyball, track & Field, helped on football, and oversaw the production of the football and basketball game-day programs. He also befriended former Baylor standout and Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson and was part of his entourage at the 1994 Olympic Trials.

In 1996, Mizzou opened again, and Moller came home. By the early 2000s, he was promoted to Sports Information Director.

On football game days, he oversaw about eight full-timers and 20 undergraduate students. He also accommodated working media, which numbered anywhere from 150 to 300 members. Plus, Moller had to ensure information made its way to the PA announcer, and the scoreboard operator.

Working for Mizzou Athletics had a number of other benefits.

“I was the luckiest guy in the world,” Moller said, noting he worked with or came to know 125 folks who have since been inducted into Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. “The time that I came through Mizzou, I was around so much greatness in terms of coaches, athletes, administrators, media, etc.”

That’s why he counts as mentors Brendel, football coach Gary Pinkel (MSHOF Legend 2019), Mike Alden (MSHOF 2015), Quin Snyder, Mike Kelly (MSHOF 2017), and SID staffer Steve Wujek.

Moller also had the overwhelming support of his wife of 27 years, Sherry, and their daughters Allison and Madison. They all were part of Mizzou Athletics and spent Christmases at football bowl games.

He also credits his mother, Jan Anderson and step-father, Dyke Anderson, his father Reggie and his siblings for his love of sports.

“God blessed me by putting amazing people in my life,” Moller said, “and I wouldn’t be getting this kind of recognition without them.”