When she looks back at her life’s work, Sally Moos sees herself as a puzzle piece — a link in the bigger picture of what it means to be a coach and a difference maker.
She has evolved to become one of the most successful coaches in the state as well as a tireless champion for girls sports. She is the 2010 recipient of The Denver Post’s Dave Sanders Award not only because of the immense success of her volleyball and girls track teams through the years, but because of an unflappable sense of caring.
“She would do anything she could to help any of us,” said Grandview volleyball coach Patty Childress. “Which I feel like is a great reason why she should get that award. She is the epitome of that award.”
The award, given annually by The Post, is named in honor of Sanders, the teacher and coach who was killed while attempting to save others during the Columbine shootings in 1999.
The games have always mattered to Moos, 58, even when she didn’t have true opportunities to play them as a child.
As a girl, she was active and curious. But she grew up in a time when girls had few opportunities to play organized sports. Moos lived in Plymouth, Wis., a town “about the size of Bennett, Colo.,” she says; 52 miles north of Milwaukee and a 30-minute drive to the shores of Lake Michigan.
When she was in high school, athletics for girls came in the form of “play days.” Competitive organized sports had to wait.
But when she finally was able to play, Moos left no stone unturned. In college, while attending the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, she participated in volleyball, basketball, softball and track and field.
“Those were some of the first years that they had some intercollegiate athletics for women,” Moos said. “That was my first chance of being an athlete myself.”
They were the only four years that Moos played organized sports, but she has never lost the love for the games. Teaching and coaching helped fill the void of not playing, and she has built a remarkable career out of both. Stops at a community college in Minnesota and at the University of Northern Colorado for graduate school sharpened her teaching and coaching skills. She took all she learned to Cherry Creek in the early 1980s.
“I enjoyed sports a lot when I was a kid and I think that’s probably why I came this route, went into teaching and coaching,” Moos said. “And I’m still doing it.”
“She’s always there for kids”
Winning is never easy, in any sport, but Moos has churned out some of the state’s best teams in volleyball and girls track year after year. Her volleyball teams have gone 52-9 the past two years, including a state championship in 2008, when the Bruins went 31-0.
Moos’ girls track team was runner-up at the Class 5A state meet in May.
“The one thing that Sally has done is she’s stayed consistent,” Cherry Creek athletic director Randy McCall said. “She is being as innovative as she can in terms of how she teaches the game and which aspects of the games are most critical to being successful. But the one thing that hasn’t changed is her expectations for kids — they’ve got to be good teammates, they’ve got to be good workers, they’ve got to be committed, they’ve got to be responsible, they’ve got to be accountable.”
McCall inherited Moos when he first sat in the Cherry Creek athletic director’s chair in 1997. It didn’t take long for him to realize he had someone special on his staff.
“Sally is as driven a person as you’re ever going to come across,” McCall said. “She’s always there for kids, she’s always trying to do something to improve her programs. She’s just a wonderful, wonderful person.”
Moos has coached at least volleyball and girls track for “27, 28 or 29 years” at Cherry Creek, and brushes off any notion she’s slowing down.
“Our goal every year is to get back to the state tournament in volleyball and get as many kids as we can qualified for the state meet in track,” she said. “It’s a circle and a cycle for me at Cherry Creek. That’s what I’m most proud of.”
Participation important
Moos never met Dave Sanders personally, but she knew of his legacy.
“I know he did a lot of great things for kids. He was a super guy,” she said.
Moos is a similar fighter. She’s heavily involved with organizations such as Colorado Coaches of Girls Sports “that have really helped bring athletics and improved athletics for girls in the state of Colorado, all the way back to Mary Kvamme, Lo Hunter, Ruby Miller. I think they set a huge foundation for girls sports in Colorado and I think it’s just grown from that.”
She also is the volleyball president for the Colorado High School Coaches Association.
“I think those organizations, if you can get the word out to educate more coaches and girls and women and the scholarships that kids can get through both organizations that never used to be,” Moos said. “Those kinds of things have really helped to grow girls sports in Colorado. So I don’t think it’s just me as a coach, it’s me supporting those organizations and helping kids understand what those organizations do for them.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
About the Dave Sanders Award
By eyewitness accounts, William “Dave” Sanders was a hero on April 20, 1999, the date of the worst tragedy in the history of American high schools. The 47-year-old teacher and coach, a Columbine High School faculty member for 25 years, helped numerous students get to safety before he was killed, along with 12 teenagers, by student gunmen. In honor of his commitment to young people, notably girls athletics, The Denver Post presents the annual Dave Sanders Colorado Coach Award. In accordance with the Sanders family, including his widow, Linda Lou Sanders, The Post recognizes a high school coach who not only has longevity and success in the ranks of teaching and coaching but also has outstanding character. In 2000, Sanders was awarded an ESPY and the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. He was honored posthumously with the first Post award in 1999. Cherry Creek volleyball and girls track coach Sally Moos is the 2010 honoree.
Previous winners:
2000: Dick Katte, the boys basketball coach at Denver Christian since the 1964-65 season. He has an 812-217 career record, tops in state history.
2001: Maurice “Stringy” Ervin, who has coached boys swimming at Littleton for 41 years. His Lions have won 12 Colorado team championships.
2002: Rick Bath, who was a veteran teacher and coach at Columbine and Sanders’ best friend. Bath is retired.
2003: Warren Mitchell, who has coached Colorado high school sports for 59 years, including the past 55 as the boys track coach at Limon.
2004: Montbello’s Don Gatewood, who surpassed 30 years in teaching and retired after 35 years as boys track coach.
2005: Pam Fagerlund, the 25-year Flagler volleyball coach who has 513 career victories and won four Colo- rado small-school titles.
2006: Judy Barnett, a female sports pioneer who won 398 volleyball games and four titles at Manitou Springs, and was an assistant commissioner of the CHSAA.
2007: Caryn Jarocki, longtime girls basketball coach at Colorado Academy and Highlands Ranch, who has a 414-130 career record with six titles.
2008: Leslie Moore, in DPS for 40 years, who was instrumental in developing Colorado girls sports as a coach, official and administrator.
2009: Gail Hook, Monarch’s girls basketball coach. She is a longtime high school girls basketball coach who also teaches physical education and health.
About Sally Moos
Age: 58
College: Attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 1970-74; did graduate work at the University of Northern Colorado.
Career: Longtime teacher and coach. Physical education teacher at Cherry Creek, where she coaches volleyball and girls track. Also has coached girls basketball.
Notable: Her 2008 volleyball team went 31-0 en route to winning the state championship.
