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Rondale Moore was so strong.
The former Purdue football All-American's speed and shiftiness sometimes overshadowed his pure strength. For the crescendo of the most glorious night of his Boilermaker career – the stunning upset of No. 2 Ohio State in 2018 -- Moore drove Buckeyes safety Isaiah Pryor back five yards in the open field before discarding him unceremoniously en route to the end zone.
That full display of Moore’s talents came immediately to mind when hearing Saturday’s shocking news of his death at age 25.
Or what about the night many of us were first formally introduced to Moore? In his college debut, on a Thursday night against Northwestern, the New Albany native did not merely live up to expectations. He obliterated them, with 302 all-purpose yards.
In the first half.
After the game, in the media room inside Mackey Arena, Moore shrank a bit from the brilliant spotlight he'd spent the previous four hours creating. He was ready for the moment on the field, but humbly deflected praise off it.
That freshman season stands up against any in the program’s history. For a generation of Boilermaker fans, the number 4 will evoke memories of only one player. “You should have seen Rondale Moore as a freshman,” they can say to those born too late to witness those astonishing performances in real time.
Despite the frustration of the injuries which prevented him from replicating that brilliance, those memories were mostly wrapped in joy.
Until Saturday’s gutting news of an opponent no one else could see, and who even Moore could not escape.
Moore’s tragic passing – police believe he took his own life – elicited anguish and confusion from his NFL and Purdue peers. His is the sort of death which triggers an outpouring of grief across the spectrum of sports.
From Boilermaker fans, who dealt with so many of the same emotions about Caleb “Biggie” Swanigan less than four years ago. From other Big Ten fan bases. From observers who remember the undersized kid who simply would not be taken to the ground that night against Ohio State.
Those moments can never die. That moment when the OSU defensive back finally caught the savant who had been terrorizing his defense all night, only to realize Moore had him exactly where he wanted him? I probably think of that clip a couple of times a year.
That memory Saturday night led me to another. This one also happened off the field, before Moore ever took the field as a Boilermaker. His teammates gathered around him in the Kozuch Football Performance Center weight room in July 2018 as more weights were added to the squat bar.
Moore’s 5-9, 180-pound frame – a generous measurement on that height, by the way – slowly bent his knees. Then he thrust that load back upright, those teammates erupting, some perhaps in disbelief of what they’d just witnessed.
Everyone outside the program eventually experienced that same visceral reaction. Yet despite providing numerous examples of his football greatness, they always seemed too few.
Despite making such an impact on so many, he is gone far too soon.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Rondale Moore once lifted Purdue football to unforgettable moments