WASHINGTON — Chris Moore shouts encouragement from the stands behind Daemen University’s bench as the Wildcats play a men’s basketball game at the University of the District of Columbia.
“Good D!” he calls out.
Moore used to play good D for Daemen. Back then he protected the paint. Now he protects presidents – as a member of the U.S. Secret Service.
“We get to witness history,” he says, “everything from inaugurations to meeting foreign leaders to state funerals in other countries. You see a lot. It’s a great job.”
We are talking in the din of the UDC gym as the teams are warming up. He brings his family whenever Daemen goes to Washington. He is true to his school.
“I majored in elementary and special education,” he says. “And then I took a completely different career path.”
He played forward under coach Don Silveri when Daemen was a member of the NAIA; now the school plays in NCAA Division II under coach Mike MacDonald, Moore’s good friend.
“We made the NAIA tournament in my time and really got things rolling at Daemen,” Moore says. “And now Coach Mac is taking them to D-II tournaments.”
Moore played for Park School in the mid-1990s and averaged 27 points and 14 rebounds as a senior, when he was named New York State’s player of the year in Class D. The Buffalo News selected him second team All Western New York.
As it happens, Park and Daemen are only a fast break apart. Add up his 2,161 points at Park and his 1,126 at Daemen, and Moore scored 3,287 points for schools in the same suburban neighborhood.
“I guess I did some damage in Amherst,” he says.
Just then Ava, his 5-year-old daughter, bounds across the bleachers to ask for money for the vending machines in the gym lobby.
“She’s my little busy bee,” Moore says.
At Halloween, he took Ava to the White House for trick-or-treating. President Biden placed a pack of M&Ms in her bag.
“What’s this?” she said.
“I don’t like M&Ms,” she…
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