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Usually, when you think of the football star at your high school, a student comes to mind — the first-string quarterback, perhaps.
But at Mountain View High, you may as well start with the principal: Keith Moody, who played college ball at Syracuse University before stints with the Buffalo Bills and a Super Bowl victory with the Oakland Raiders, was inducted into the Syracuse Hall of Fame on Monday, Oct. 19.
“It was right up there with winning the Super Bowl,” Moody said of the induction ceremony back East. Moody, who grew up in central New York, said dozens of his family members still living in the area came to the ceremony to cheer for him.
Though his football career ended with a Super Bowl ring and eternal recognition in the annals of his university, its start was not so glamorous. After only two years of college, Moody lost his mother and became the sole provider for his four younger siblings.
“When you’re 19 years old, the last thing on your mind is that you’re going to be a parent,” he said. Though his mother had been sick for nearly a year, preparing and teaching him to take on the family, he “didn’t really believe that it was going to happen.”
Moody withdrew from school to support his family — which also included his wife and his own daughter — believing he had left his football career behind.
But during his year off, a new head football coach, Frank Maloney, took over at Syracuse. Maloney approached Moody, and asked him to come back to the team.
“If you’re successful,” the coach told him, “it will do a lot more for your family,” Moody recalled.
“So I listened to him. He was very insightful,” Moody said.
He was right, too. After a successful college run, the defensive back and punt returner was recruited by the Buffalo Bills, where he set the standing record for longest punt return — 91 yards against the Cleveland Browns. He played with the Bills for four years before signing with the Oakland Raiders.
In 1981, Moody helped his team to a Super Bowl victory — today he bears a very large ring to prove it. Not long after, however, Moody sustained a career-ending knee injury. Though he would have liked to play a few more years, he said, he found another passion in the field of education.
“I always loved counseling,” he said. “I thought, this is really my calling.”
Moody worked as high school counselor in Fresno before moving into administration. He has been with Mountain View High School for the past eight years — first as assistant principal, and now in his fifth year as principal.
Nowadays, Moody leads a new type of team on a very different playing field. Despite his easygoing demeanor, he understands the weight of his responsibility.
“Everything stops here,” he said from his desk in the middle of campus. “You’re always wondering, ‘Did I do the right thing?'”
Football still plays into his life, though in a much smaller way. He makes it to most of the Spartans’ football games, and the players often ask him for advice.
“They think I can tell if they can go on to play college ball,” he said.
Moody is still close with the family he raised early in his life, and continues to keep busy with his two young children, a 12-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son, Keith Jr.
Though he doesn’t follow pro football much anymore, he does watch the Raiders — the Tracy Raiders, that is. Keith Jr.’s youth football team was undefeated as of press time.
Thanks Kelsey Mesher for a nice story. I think we are seeing just a peek of the whole story, and maybe more can be told as it unfolds. While folks from New York are not always among my personal favorites, how can you not like a former Raider? Mr. Moody, keep up the good work. Our town appreciates your efforts.
Congratulations to our principal, and thank you to our entire school for your integrity and the high quality of education you provide to our children.