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Features
7
Justin Moore
2009 graduate, former football player finds success at flourishing athletic brand Ben McHenry
mchenben000@hsestudents.org
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early a third of U.S. college students change their major at least once, and over a third of students transfer schools, according to Inside Higher Ed. While 2009 graduate Justin Moore’s educational path spanned numerous majors and schools, it led to a career he enjoys. Moore is the merchandising planner for Baseballism, a Portland, Oregon-based lifestyle clothing brand centered around baseball. As merchandise planner, Moore oversees demand and supply forecasting, e-commerce, and brick and mortar locations. He also works with the design team on product development, purchasing and maintaining the production schedule. According to Moore, the core of the company is still small, so everyone has extra duties. “I also travel to a few of our retail locations each year to help me better understand customer interaction with product and I also visit with manufacturers in China and Colombia from time to time,” Moore said. Baseballism was established in 2013, yet they have quickly grown in the realm of baseball and clothing, with a store at Fenway Park in Boston, where the Red Sox play. They also recently launched a shoe with Nike, which is reselling for up to $700 on eBay. “It’s been an incredible ride up to this point and something I don’t take for granted being that it’s my first real world ob, oore said. “ eing f lly immersed in the decision-making in every area of the business and working with the four owners of the company over the past four years has been an amazing learning experience.” Moore’s personal business development was not a carefully orchestrated plan. Rather, it was the result of a tumultuous athletic and educational path post-high school. “After graduation from FHS, I bounced around quite a bit,” Moore said. “I played one year of
football at Florida A&M University and then transferred to Purdue University after a knee injury hobbled my football career.” Moore studied Aviation Management at Purdue, but decided it was not something he wanted to pursue professionally, so he dropped out of Purdue to decide on a new career. This re ection e ent ally led him to regon, where he earned a degree in supply and logistics management from Portland State University, as well as his job at Baseballism. Moore’s love for sports and passion for success can be largely attributed to FHS, where he was a member of the first fo r year grad ating class and the only state champion football team. “ e were definitely the g inea pigs as the school was still being built around us,” Moore said. “We were also the only football team in 5A to not have a senior class our inaugural year in athletics, so there was a lot of character building that season. We were terrible.” Moore also saw individual success in football. His senior season, he was awarded Mr. Football, given to the best player in every position in Indiana, for the kicking position. This earned him a spot on the wall of fame, but Moore holds in far higher regard the lessons instilled in him from the football field. “Through football, I learned how to fully dedicate myself to something,” Moore said. “I have been able to take that framework for success and apply it to other areas of my life. Other than that, I try to keep the high school football accolade convos to a minimum. Nobody likes that guy at my age.”
Justin Moore hikes on the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington. Photo used with permission of Justin Moore.
