Moore Than Meets the Eye

“We had a race at Navy in Annapolis, and then we took the bus ride home eight hours. I got to Eleganza maybe a half-hour before it started, and did it—it’s always hectic in the spring.”

Tim Moore is used to jam-packed schedules. In fact, he thrives on them.

Moore, a senior on the lightweight rowing team, is entering his fourth year rowing for Harvard. According to captain Tom Nesel, Moore brings a unique drive to the varsity squad.

And he has rowing in his blood. Perhaps it can explain why Moore’s able to balance diverse clubs and a senior thesis with the year-round sport he’s played all his life.

Sitting in Dunster courtyard, donning a Harvard crew shirt and a faux-hawk, Moore reminisced about his introduction to crew.

“My mom used to take me out in her launch when I was three,” he said.

Moore had two strong influences, guiding him to begin rowing. Both parents, Marshall ’79 and Becky ’79, rowed for Harvard and Radcliffe, respectively. Both parents serve as coaches and his mom works as one of the heads of Friends of Harvard and Radcliffe Rowing. Growing up in New England, or as Moore calls it “Now England,” he was always surrounded by the sport.

Moore has come a long way since his days sitting in diapers in his mom’s boat. He began rowing on the national level at his high school, Phillips Exeter, with the heavyweight team. Now, he is an integral part of the lightweight first varsity eight at Harvard. Starting his college career rowing in the first freshman boat, he has continued getting stronger and faster throughout his time at Harvard, rowing in the first varsity boat since his sophomore year.

“He’s pretty warrior-esque,” Nesel said of Moore’s rowing personality. “Every time we are on the erg, he fights it to the death…he doesn’t let go.”

Nicknamed “Crazyhorse,” Moore has a quirky personality and tries to do things outside the box, according to Nesel.

Moore’s activities outside of rowing are fairly diverse.

One night a week, Moore travels to Suffolk as part of a PBHA program to tutor inmates in their county prison for GED prep. He also holds an on-campus job.

When the weather gets warm again, Moore’s other activities start to heat up.

In the spring, Moore steps with the Black Men’s Forum (BMF), which performs in Eleganza.

“I started stepping at Exeter, and that’s how I got into it here,” Moore said. “It’s another good team of guys I enjoy hanging out with.”

Apart from his rowing team and BMF team, Moore also models in Eleganza.

“Eleganza is a fun, fairly social thing,” Moore explained. “It’s another way to meet people outside of crew, which is really nice.”

Besides modeling, stepping, working, tutoring, and rowing, Moore is planning ahead to get a considerable portion of his thesis done before the spring practices and races start up.

Moore’s roommate Bob Santamaria, a fellow Social Studies concentrator, admires Moore’s work ethic.

“Not that many people can be Social Studies concentrators and athletes,” Santamaria commented. “Being able to handle that workload is amazing.”

Even though spring is much more hectic, Moore thrives on the busy schedule.

“The increased structure makes me work faster,” he said. “I wouldn’t do all these things unless I really enjoyed them. There’s so much offered here and I always want to try to take advantage of it all.”

Santamaria says that besides playing intramural sports, Moore is scarcely seen around Dunster because he’s so busy.

“He always swings through the common room, though,” Santamaria noted. “When he’s here, he’s a fixture with his headphones at his desk, working after dinner until he goes to sleep.”

Moore has always had an interest in travel and other cultures. His thesis is on Afro-Colombian identity, and he hopes to go abroad after graduation after living in New England his whole life up to this point.

But while international experiences may lie head, Moore is currently focused on a challenge much closer to home: the Head of the Charles.

The Harvard lightweights haven’t won the event in the three years that he has rowed, but Moore hopes to change that this year.

“It would be awesome to win.”

—Staff writer Emily Rutter can be reached at erutter@college.harvard.edu.