Wooster's Steve Moore won 867 games as a Division III men's basketball coach, second only to Franklin and Marshall's Glenn Robinson. Photo by Matt Dilyard, The College of Wooster

By Gordon Mann
D3hoops.com

One Saturday afternoon back in 2001, head coach Steve Moore was preparing his team to battle their archrival for the conference championship and a spot in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament.

Moore and the College of Wooster Scots traveled to the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio where Wittenberg University was hosting the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) title game. The Tigers had already beaten Wooster twice, including a 94-80 win a week earlier that snapped Wooster’s long home winning streak.

• Moore and five more from D3 enter Small College Basketball Hall of Fame
• Prior SCB Hall of Fame coach profiles: Dan McCarrell, North Park | Bo Ryan, UW-Platteville

As the story goes, Moore was feeling especially feisty, his competitive juices flowing freely as they did before every game. Addressing his team on the court where the NCAC title would be decided, Moore threw a ball across the floor and then dove after it to show his Scots how they needed to fight for every advantage. Moore slid across the floor, crashed into the chairs and broke his hand.

Adrenaline and competitive fire masked the pain, so Moore wrapped his hand and coached the fired-up Scots to a 59-56 victory over the Tigers for their third straight NCAC tournament title and sixth in 10 years.

Twenty-five years later, sitting at home on a quieter Saturday morning near the Wooster campus, Moore is asked about this memorable pregame performance.

“We did have a walkthrough before the game, and they had beaten us twice that year. I did dive across the floor, but I didn’t break my hand and players were motivated,” says Moore.

You know how it is, Moore demurs. People tell stories, legends grow and the truth gets fuzzy along the way.

Doug Cline, who was Moore’s long-time assistant and then his successor as Wooster head coach, has another story.

“We had one recruit who came here without seeing us play. His dad told me that Coach Moore was really nice, but he couldn’t see how he could get his players excited for the game. I told him that will not be a problem.” The father watched Moore on the sidelines, and his concerns quickly disappeared.

“He’s the most intense person I’ve ever been around in my life,” notes Cline. “It’s a little like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

People tell these stories about Moore’s intensity and competitive fire with respect and affection. They also tell these stories because Moore is unfailingly calm and understated off the court, and they want you to know there’s another side to him.

They want you to know that the man who built Wooster into one of Division III’s premier programs with an emphasis on hard work and respect wanted to win just as badly as the coach whose passion boiled a lot closer to the surface.

They want you to know there are two sides to Steve Moore, and they love them both. 

From Ohio to Pennsylvania, and back again

Steve Moore (far right) started his coaching career as as assistant on the 1977 Wittenberg national championship team.

Moore spent 33 seasons and won 780 games as Wooster’s head coach, but his college basketball career started on the other side of the Woo-Witt rivalry. Moore grew up in Monroeville, Ohio and enrolled at Wittenberg in the early 1970s.

“I wasn’t recruited to Wittenberg. I just went there mainly because my friend who was two years older than me went there to play football. A high school coach told me I could play there, and I doubted it because I saw Wittenberg play in the College Division tournament and they were really good.”

Before 1974, the NCAA split its membership into two divisions, with smaller schools competing in the College Division. Wittenberg basketball won the national championship at that level in 1961, finished second in 1963, and made the Tournament again in 1969 when Moore was in high school.

Moore made Wittenberg’s varsity team as a sophomore and was a senior captain on the Tigers’ 1973-74 team that went 22-4 under head coach Bob Hamilton. Fifty years later, Moore can remember details of the final games of that season, including the 59-55 overtime win over Evansville that sent the Tigers to the regional championship.

“Those men meant a lot to me and mean a lot to me and influenced my coaching,” Moore told the Springfield News-Sun years later. “I was a very average college player, but I had great teammates.”

Moore also has very fond memories of his college coaches, Hamilton and his assistant Larry Hunter, who came to Wittenberg after two seasons as an assistant at Marietta and a successful playing career at Ohio University.

“Coach Hamilton was an outstanding coach and the reason I got into coaching. He's the reason I’m the type of coach that I am. He was very knowledgeable about fundamentals. I learned the game from him.”

After graduating from Wooster, Moore decided to enroll at Hunter’s alma mater and earned his master’s degree in physical education from Ohio University. Then, when Hamilton left Wittenberg to become Navy's head coach, Hunter became the Tigers’ head coach and hired Moore as his assistant.

Hamilton left the Tigers in excellent shape, having just lost to Scranton in overtime in the 1976 Division III national championship game to Scranton. Wittenberg returned to the national semifinals in Hunter's first season and returned the favor, beating the Royals in overtime. Then the Tigers defeated SUNY Oneonta for the 1977 national championship.

Moore spent five season at Wittenberg as the assistant men’s basketball and the Tigers' head men’s soccer coach, which was a school tradition. The Tigers went 119-24 during that period and made another trip to the national semifinals in 1980.

A few hours east in Allentown, Pennsylvania, another ‘berg was looking for a new coach.

Muhlenberg College had conducted two searches to fill their head coaching vacancy, but the College’s president turned away the finalist both times. Muhlenberg’s Athletic Director contacted Steve Bankston, who was the head coach at Baldwin Wallace in Berea, Ohio, and asked if he had any ideas. Bankston suggested Muhlenberg reach out to the assistant coach at conference rival Wittenberg,

Moore interviewed for the position and was hired very late in the offseason, with the academic year already underway. Unlike Wittenberg, where Moore stepped into a successful program, the Mules had struggled before Moore arrived, going 7-40 over the prior two seasons. Muhlenberg got some momentum in Moore’s first season, despite one especially low-scoring loss, and equaled the prior years’ win total with a 7-18 mark. That made it easier to recruit players to Allentown, and Muhlenberg went 16-9 in Moore’s second season giving the Mules their first winning record in a decade.

In the early 1980s, Muhlenberg played in the sprawling Middle Atlantic Conference whose 25 members are now spread across multiple conferences. The MAC included multiple national tournament mainstays, and the Mules often needed to beat several of them just to earn a Tournament spot.

In 1985, Moore led Muhlenberg to a 19-7 record (including a non-conference loss at Wooster) and a first-place finish in the MAC Southwest. The Mules beat Widener in the MAC playoffs but lost to Washington College and missed the NCAA Tournament. Widener got an at-large bid and reached the 1985 national semifinals.

The next year, the Mules won the MAC Southwest again, this time sharing first with the Genn Robinson-led Franklin and Marshall. Muhlenberg defeated Widener again in the 1986 MAC playoffs, but lost to F&M in the title game. Forty years later, Robinson and Moore are Division III’s two winningest coaches with 1,834 wins combined. And that 20-7 finish remains Muhlenberg’s best as a Division III program.

Moore was happy in Allentown but, just as a head coaching opportunity took him from Ohio to Pennsylvania, another opportunity took him back.

This time it was the College of Wooster and Athletic Director Al Van Wie that were looking for fresh leadership. The Scots had been mired around .500 since Van Wie led them to multiple 20-win seasons in the late 1970s. Once again, the Wooster opportunity arose late in the offseason, and Moore was already preparing for another season at Muhlenberg when he got the call from Wooster in August 1987.              

“School had already started at Muhlenberg, and we had had our first meeting [as a team] when I interviewed at Wooster. It was very difficult to leave Muhlenberg. We had great young men. I liked the college a lot,” Moore recalls with emotion in his voice. “But my wife and I are from the same hometown and at that time my kids were young, and their grandparents were still alive.”

So, Moore returned to Ohio and started his program building process again, this time at Wooster.

Predestination fulfilled

Calvin athletics photo

The Knights hit their full stride in Honderd’s junior season. Calvin swept Hope 3-0 and ended the Flying Dutch’s season in the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season, this time with a 91-88 win in front of 4,500 fans. The Knights edged Gustavus Adolphus, 69-68, in the next round and then crushed Otterbein (88-67) and Jersey City State (81-40) to reach the national championship game.

Calvin finished the title journey with a 62-49 win over Rochester for the program's first national championship, and Honderd finished his outstanding junior season by scoring 25 points and grabbing eight rebounds, earning him Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. At the end of the season, Honderd was once again the Knights’ leading scorer, rebounder and shooter, including a 59-percent showing from three (10-for-17) after attempting three triples total in his first two seasons.

When asked about that season, Honderd defers credit to the “loaded” freshman class that helped put Calvin over the top, and head coach Douma. “Coach Douma was a great coach. I’m thankful to have played for him. He was a great basketball mind. I always felt, no matter whom we played against, he put us in a position to win.”

Honderd remembers his final season at Calvin fondly, including a season-opening win at Alaska-Fairbanks and a champion-vs.-champion game against 1992 NAIA Division I title winner Oklahoma City. Calvin won both matchups with Hope and then topped Kalamazoo for the MIAA title. Honderd set a school record with 61 points on 20-for-28 shooting from the field and 17 -for-21 from the foul line in the Knights’ 96-90 win over the Hornets. Asked about the game, which is mostly available on YouTube today, Honderd demurs.

“Every position was key. Kalamazoo was a tough, tough team. I don’t remember all the scoring. I just remember it being a battle.”

Calvin’s title defense and Honderd's college basketball career ended with a loss to eventual national champion Ohio Northern in the Elite 8, but the Knights finished as one of the final eight teams each of Honderd's four seasons. He was named the NABC Division III Player of the Year, and he once again led the team in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage. In his final form, Honderd also led the team in three-point shooting, going 32-for-74 from behind the arc. For his career, Honderd started 119 of 120 games, averaged 20.7 points and shot 62.8 percent from the field, both of which remain Calvin College records.

This October, Honderd will add one more accolade to his storied career when he is inducted into the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame. He is one of three 2025 inductees who excelled at the Division III level, along with Dan McCarrell who won three national championships at North Park, and Joey Flannery who led Babson to the 2017 national title.

After graduating from Calvin, Honderd played in Europe and then with Athletes in Action. He has settled into a career in finance and now lives in Holland, close to Hope’s campus. “I have people who come up to me and say, ‘I don’t think I like you very much.’”

Asked about his greatest achievement, Honderd again chooses to share the spotlight and recognize the contributions of others.

“It’s winning the national championship. The national championship team is spread out around the country, but we still stay pretty close. That’s part of doing something special together.”

Honderd is unfailingly modest, to the point of almost being shy, and he’s more comfortable talking about the accomplishments of others than his own. He was a winner, a champion, and the consummate teammate. Just ask his former high school and college teammate Jim Timmer.

“I don’t think you could find a teammate in those four years that would say, ‘Man, I hated playing with Steve Honderd.’ I don’t think you can find one.”

1992 Division III men's basketball national champions, Calvin College. Steve Honderd (No. 50) kneels third from the left. Photo courtesy of Calvin College athletics