Gary W. Moore inspires listeners at convention

Special Featured Speaker Gary W. Moore held his audience spellbound Sunday afternoon with the personal and intensely moving story behind his popular book, Playing With the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, World War II, and the Long Journey Home, which tells the remarkable story of his father, Gene. Moore described how the story continues to span generations, noting that his son, up-and-coming actor Toby Moore, will portray Gene in an upcoming movie version of the book.

Moore said he was an unlikely person to become an author, noting that he never read a book until he was a sophomore in high school and his 69-year-old English teacher gave him a copy of A Separate Peace. Moore stayed up all night reading the book. "All of a sudden I was hooked because a teacher cared enough about me to put a book in my hand and coerced me into reading it," he said. "It was a life-changing experience."

Moore closed his presentation by reminding the audience that, as teachers, they can have a similar "positive, profound influence on people."