Sports odds and ends
Being first means no one comes before you. Northside native Tamara Moore has lots of firsts.
The Minneapolis North High grad led the Lady Polars to a state title and was named Minnesota Ms. Basketball in her senior year. She then went on to an all-Big-Ten playing career at Wisconsin (1998-2002), where she played in two WNIT and two NCAA tournaments and was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017.
The 15th overall pick by the now defunct Miami Sol in 2002, Moore was later traded to Minnesota and remains today the first and only Northside native to play for the Lynx. After retiring as a player, Moore went into high school, semi-pro and college coaching.
Moore is now featured in “Girlhood (It’s Complicated),” a new exhibit at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul. She is included in the Minnesota History Center’s exclusive section on women’s basketball in Minnesota that will run now through June 1, 2025.
“You know me,” said Moore proudly, “somebody from the North Side of Minneapolis and being immersed into the successes that have come out of the North Minneapolis area and just Minnesota in general has been very, very important to me.
“But even having my name mentioned with some of the people and the greatest people that have kept and built the foundation of the successes, especially on the women’s and girls’ basketball side, it’s been amazing.”
Earlier this month, Moore achieved yet another first when the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks hired her as their first female scout in franchise history.
“I was literally only 19 days old when the Mavs came into the NBA. So, 44 years later, I was able to make another historical mark,” stressed Moore. She also made news in 2020 when she was hired as the first female in Minnesota college history as Mesabi Range College men’s basketball coach.
“I want to just keep breaking that glass ceiling and getting to the point where it’s not a rarity, it’s a norm,” said Moore, whose goal of one day being an NBA assistant coach or even a head coach is still on track.
“To be honest with you, just being able to be in the league and being able to have my foot in the door, I wanted to see where it leads,” she noted. “I told them [team officials] my ultimate goal would be to be on the sidelines coaching as an assistant coach or wherever that leads.”
Moore added she won’t be relocated to Texas quite yet. “I’m gonna do the job based from Minneapolis this year,” she said. “For the first full month of October, I’ll be joining the team in Las Vegas for training camp. And then I’ll do three weeks in Dallas conversing with the staff.
“Then each month I’ll get a calendar on what college games I’m responsible to scout. Then next June I’ll go and be a part of the draft prospect preparation. From there, then war room draft and then Summer League in July.”
Finally, Moore wanted it known that her many firsts wouldn’t have been possible without help along the way.
“I really want to say thank you to everybody that has had a role in the successes of my journey: my first AAU coaches, Jam and Clarence Sellers; my high school coaches Tonyas Chavers and Faith Johnson Patterson; college coaches like Jane Albright; and all the WNBA players and coaches that I had during that journey.
“I got a chance to play for JellyBean Bryant, who just passed away recently. He’s one of the most influential coaches in my life. Bill Laimbeer was another.
“Just anybody that gave me the opportunity, but mainly the players that played for me. They are very important, because without them my resume wouldn’t be what it is.”