Dallas tennis standout shaped by a family legacy he never saw firsthand
By Marvin Hurst
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DALLAS (KTVT) — Everything for Malcolm Moore comes back to composure, focus, growth and family – from the roots of his lineage to the future he’s building. The 17‑year‑old is a bi‑institutional student in the Dallas Independent School District.
“Tennis? I have a deep love for tennis,” Moore said.
His love for tennis started with a visit to his grandfather’s place in Longview. Joe Terry David Pierce Jr., Moore’s grandfather, had some equipment that caught the five‑year‑old’s attention.
“And he said, Grandpa, you got tennis rackets in your car,” Pierce recalled. “I said, yeah, I keep them so if I meet somebody who wants to play, I’ll have a racket.”
Moore’s journey in tennis began. He’d gone through soccer, football, checkers, chess, Monopoly, backgammon and fishing. Now, his father, Eric, thought, here we are with another tab, compliments of the grandfather.
A costly passion takes hold
“He introduced him to things that weren’t so expensive first, like chess, right, and other things, but no, there’s a running joke that,” Eric Moore said. “Dad, you got the boy to love the sport that costs the most money, right?”
The 55‑year‑old said they started with mental activities like chess to cultivate his son’s mind. They also saw his athletic ability, so Malcolm Moore got tennis lessons. He improved through repetition and persistence.
A global connection through tennis That investment continues to pay off in expected and surprising ways. Eric Moore wanted his son to travel to Africa to understand his roots. On that work trip with his father to Ghana, Malcolm Moore was having a peer‑to‑peer conversation with the students of Yendi. He mentioned tennis.
“You play lawn tennis? That’s what they call it, lawn tennis?” his father said. “And all the kids, he plays lawn tennis. He plays lawn tennis.”
Tennis made such an impression that Moore and his family donated supplies. The Dallas ISD student created an exchange program called Across the Net to donate tennis supplies to the students at the school. They would need it for their brand‑new tennis court.
“Now they have the option right there at home in the northern region of Ghana to play tennis whenever they like,” the younger Moore said.
His father said the students would also use tennis to apply math, physics and geometry.
Making DISD history
Back in Texas, his son played his way into DISD history. He was the first tennis player, the district said, in more than 60 years to go to state. He was a sophomore and placed. The same as a junior. He hopes to have fun and win this year.
“I’ve had an adverse support system, meaning all the people in my family have always pushed me to do things and get out there,” Malcolm Moore said.
Part of that support was watching him play the drums in the school’s jazz ensemble and at church. The tennis player said it helps him relieve stress, which is tough to see. On and off the court, his focus and composure feel like pieces of his skin.
The tennis player comes from a football lineage. His grandfather was a wide receiver. His father was a defensive back. Even now, his dad believes his son is a tennis player in a defensive back’s body.
Lessons passed down
That equipment his grandfather had when he was five is a wish‑list item Pierce could only watch from a distance as a child in Longview. The 78‑year‑old said he remembered coming out of Mary C. Womack High School, across from a city park.
Pierce said he wanted to watch pros instruct white players on the game, but he said they ran him off. He was still able to get a view.
“And so I started mimicking the forehands and mimicking the backhand, and I learned to count and score the game,” he said.
Pierce was able to pass those lessons along to his grandson, Malcolm, who has signed a tennis scholarship to Coppin State University in Baltimore. He will play tennis and begin his journey to medical school.
” I mean, knowing about it is one thing. Having to deal with it is something else. And it made him a much better person, and it gave me so much satisfaction,” Pierce said.
His grandson calls it inspirational.
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