THE RECRUITING GUY: Family travels to support future Hog

Arkansas basketball commitment Chance Moore (center) of Powder Springs, Ga., attended Coach Wootten’s Top 150 Showcase last weekend at Mans eld, Texas, with his mother Julie Fincher (left) and father John Moore.
(Photo courtesy of Julie Fincher)
Arkansas basketball commitment Chance Moore (center) of Powder Springs, Ga., attended Coach Wootten’s Top 150 Showcase last weekend at Mans eld, Texas, with his mother Julie Fincher (left) and father John Moore.
(Photo courtesy of Julie Fincher)

University of Arkansas wing commitment Chance Moore never has lacked family support, and last weekend's Coach Wootten's Top 150 Showcase was another example.

Moore, 6-5, 195 pounds, of Powder Springs (Ga.) McEachern saw several family members and two family friends make the trip to Mansfield, Texas, to provide a cheering section.

"It really meant a lot to see them there at the games rooting me on," said Moore, an ESPN 4-star prospect, the No. 9 small forward and No. 44 overall prospect in the 2021 class. "It really made me feel good, and it helped my performance because I knew I had people there supporting me."

Moore's mother Julie Fincher and her husband Eddie Fincher; his father John Moore; and a family friend made the trip to Texas.

His parental grandparents, Michael and Patricia Rosier from Washington, D.C.; great-uncle Ottis Jackson from Denver; and family friend Morris Overstreet from Houston also made the trek to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

When Moore's parents separated, they were determined to keep his relationships with both families intact.

"His dad and I wanted to make sure, even when we got a divorce, Chance's family life was disturbed as little as possible as it relates to him being able to have a relationship with both sides of the family," his mother said. "Always feeling the love and support there."

While growing up, Moore traveled and spent time with his mother's family in Florida. His father's side provided more of an urban setting.

"My family grew up on the coast in the rural area," Julie Fincher said. "We have the Gulf of Mexico that borders where I grew up, and his dad's side of the family were all from D.C. and Denver. So, he had the perfect balance of city and country life, and I wanted to make sure that he had an appreciation for both."

His father and stepfather have a great relationship, and the two are on the same page.

"It's not uncommon to sit down and have a family dinner and talk things out if an issue [arises] or anything like that, we try to coordinate and try to be on the same page," Fincher said. "I know that sometimes that's a dynamic that can be difficult to navigate, but that's another piece that I consider beautiful is that Chance has not one dad but two dads, and they offer different things and give it to him different ways and that helps when you're raising a teenager."

Moore, who was born in Miami and moved to Atlanta at 2 months old, traveled with his father John, a plaintiff litigation lawyer in the Atlanta area, and his parental grandparents to National Bar Association meetings.

"With the association, they would always take multiple trips a year and they would have camps for the children of those attorneys," Fincher said. "We've always been a traveling group of people, even outside of the sports. So Chance would always go stay with his grandparents every summer up until he probably got to his last year of middle school."

Being able to mingle with professional people from different parts of the country fueled his growth.

"Being able to carry myself around different crowds," Moore said. "That's helped a lot in that area."

Moore's support from family hasn't gone unnoticed, and it is appreciated.

"He's said himself he realizes he's been exposed to different things and have an extra layers of support that a lot of his friends that he knows and sees and doesn't have," Fincher said. "So he's aware that it's not the norm to have such a dynamic group of people that's there not only when you're up but also to be able to pick him up through some of the difficult times."

Moore has had to rehabilitate twice from injuries and did so with his family's backing. He injured his posterior cruciate ligament and stretched his anterior cruciate ligament at age 9, and he had a posterior cruciate ligament and a meniscus fray repaired last year.

"I had to go through therapy three, four times a week, do exercises at 5 a.m. before school," Moore said. "They just really helped me and motivated me to really get through that, to be able to bounce back."

Email Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com

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