Beadle Moore was the Voice of the Weevils.
He used that lofty position to impress Blanche Montgomery of Helena on their first date.
Moore took Montgomery to an Arkansas A&M football game, where they sat in the press box, and he asked her to be his spotter while he did the radio play-by-play for the Boll Weevils.
She was not deterred, and they married in 1969.
Beadle Moore died Friday in Little Rock after a long illness, according to an obituary on the website of Ruebel Funeral Home of Little Rock.
From 1966-69, he was an instructor at A&M, which is now the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
Known for his infectiously upbeat personality, Moore made an impression on everyone he met.
After having dinner with the Moores one night, Walter Hussman, publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, was moved to propose to his sweetheart, Robena "Ben" Kendrick. She accepted.
"I was in love with Ben anyway, but seeing a couple like Beadle and Blanche who were so happily married was a good influence," Hussman said.
Dolph Beadle Moore Jr. was born Oct. 5, 1941, in Mobile, Ala., the son of Marta Wolff Moore and Dolph Beadle Moore, an executive with Humble Oil, according to his obituary.
Beadle Moore Jr. spent his childhood in Opelousas, La., where, in kindergarten and first grade, he was served and drank coffee au lait for his school breakfast.
Moore moved to Tyler, Texas, as a teenager. In high school, he boxed and was captain of the football team his senior year.
He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in political science from East Texas State University in Commerce.
After working at Arkansas A&M, Moore did additional graduate work at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Moore and his wife returned to Arkansas in 1973 when he took a position on the faculty of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He taught political science there until 1990, while also serving in administrative positions.
After leaving the university, he worked at Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Co. as assistant to the chairman until retiring in 1999.
Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, who was chairman at Arkla, said he hired Moore to work at the utility company.
"He just did a splendid job. People liked him and trusted him," said McLarty, who left Arkla to serve as President Bill Clinton's White House chief of staff.
McLarty said Moore knew how to get complicated situations resolved in an effective manner.
"He made a real contribution to Arkla Gas," McLarty said. "Beadle was truly a good man and a good friend. He will be missed."
Moore was a lifelong Democrat who was active in state and national politics.
Hussman said he and Moore were political opposites, but they didn't let that get in the way of their friendship.
"Beadle was just an outstanding person," Hussman said. "What I enjoyed so much about Beadle -- he was just fun to be with. He had such a great attitude. He had such a great laugh. I can still hear that laugh right now."
Others echoed Hussman's comments about Moore.
"He was always willing to take a joke or tell a practical joke on himself," said Fred Harrison, retired general counsel for the University of Arkansas System. "He was always a good conversationalist too. Loved to talk politics, but he knew when to not talk politics around his Republican friends. He had friends on both sides of the aisle."
Harrison said Moore was a fan of Edith Piaf, the French singer and songwriter. On a trip to Paris, Moore searched and found the Edith Piaf Museum, which happened to be in an elderly Frenchman's apartment.
Moore didn't speak French, and the Frenchman didn't speak English, but that didn't stop them from having coffee in the living room and enjoying the fellowship, Harrison said.
Bettie Anne Mahony of El Dorado said she and her husband, longtime Arkansas lawmaker Jodie Mahony, were good friends with the Moores.
"As anyone who knew him would say, Beadle was such a joyful person. It's hard to imagine a world without him," she said. "He understood and loved politics, at least pre-Trumpian politics. Even when he was quite ill, he kept up by computer, either laughing (when the state of the country would allow it) or fuming at the latest stupidity."
Mahony said her husband did something "vaguely outrageous" in the Arkansas House of Representatives one day.
"Beadle met us at the races with a sack over his head to disguise himself," she said.
"He had a sharp wit and a wonderful sense of humor, which sort of buoyed him during his dark days," said Peter Powell of Little Rock.
Powell said he and Moore played together in the Arkansas Senior Golf Association. Powell said a common refrain during these outings was, "Let me out here, and I'll start looking."
"He was always upbeat and pleasant, fun to be around, just always in a good mood and made you feel better," said retired federal judge Jim Moody of Little Rock.
"Beadle was one of these people who enjoyed life," said Bob Brown, a former justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court. "You could tell it in the way he lived it. He lived it, frankly, in a way to benefit other people."
Brown said Moore had a "real sensitive spot in his heart for the underprivileged."
He said Moore once got him tickets to an Arkansas Razorbacks football game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The seats were in the end zone on the top row, where the view behind them to the ground below was a reminder of how perilous life can be.
"My son and I were clutching each other throughout the game," Brown said. "That was something I always teased him about."
Brown said he visited Moore the week before he died.
"I asked him about looking toward death and whatnot," Brown said. "He said 'I'm at peace. I've lived a good life. I try to help people and what more can you do.'"
Metro on 01/05/2020