A 61-Year-Old Kicker Remains The Oldest Person To Ever Play In A College Football Game

NCAA logo on football field

The vast majority of college football players either take their game to the next level or accept it’s time to move on in their early 20s, but in recent years, there’s been a rise in the number of people who’ve pulled a Van Wilder by milking their eligibility for all its worth.

However, none of them have even come close to surpassing the oldest person to ever play a snap in the NCAA.

In 2023, NC State’s roster boasted a 26-year-old wide receiver named Bradley Rozner who graduated from high school in 2016. His unique situation stemmed from multiple injuries and the extra year of eligibility granted to student-athletes who were enrolled during the pandemic, which is also the case for Cam McCormick, the Miami tight end who lobbied the NCAA to grant him a ninth year of eligibility.

There’s obviously something to be said for the experience that comes with being immersed in a college football environment for an extended amount of time, and while those players may be “old” compared to some of their teammates, the fact plenty of guys their age are pursuing successful careers in the NFL means they’re not exactly at a huge disadvantage when it comes to hanging with players who’ve been subjected to less wear and tear.

However, the same can’t be said for multiple people who’ve decided to give college football a shot at a decidedly ripe age—including the man who holds the record for the oldest player who’s ever played a snap.

How Alan Moore ended up kicking for a college football team at the age of 61

In 1968, Mississippi native Alan Moore joined the football program at Jones College in the town of Ellisville and spent his freshman season serving as a kicker.

However, he was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War at the end of that campaign and started working in construction before retiring to Florida in the late 2000s.

After attending a game at his former school while visiting his family back home, Moore decided he wanted to give football another shot, and after constructing a set of goalposts in his daughter’s yard, he started practicing with the help of old-school square-toed cleats before earning the chance to play at Holmes Community College in 2010 at the age of 60.

The following year, the football team at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama gave Moore a spot on its roster ahead of its inaugural season at the DIII level, and on September 10, 2021, he became the oldest person to play and score in an NCAA game with the extra point he kicked to help the squad earn a 41-19 victory over Ave Maria.

Moore broke the record that was previously set by fellow 61-year-old kicker Tom Thompson, who’d also kicked an extra point for Austin College in Texas during a game in 2009 (the Vietnam vet was a couple of months older when he took the field).

If you’re curious, the oldest person to ever play in a DI game is Joe Thomas Sr. (the father of NFL linebacker Joe Thomas Jr.), who was 55 years old when he suited up for South Carolina State and ran for three yards during a game against Savannah State in 2016.