John Ambrose Moore (6 July 1911 – unknown) was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 amateur footballer, referee and tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 player.

Football career

Moore played for Old Alleyneans, Stone St. Michael's and Stafford Rangers

Stafford Rangers F.C.

Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts...

 before joining Port Vale

Port Vale F.C.

Port Vale Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire — one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The club's traditional rivals in the city are Stoke City, and games between the two clubs are known as...

 in February 1939. His only appearance was a 7–0 defeat at Manchester City

Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...

 on 18 May 1940 in a war league match. He departed at the end of the 1939–40 season as the club went into abeyance due to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. He later moved on to Michelin and also worked as a referee.

Tennis career

Moore was an accomplished tennis player and played at Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...

 on seven occasions as an amateur (as almost all top players were at the time) between 1938 and 1950. Even the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n champion, Rod Laver

Rod Laver

Rodney George "Rod" Laver MBE is an Australian former tennis player who holds the record for titles won in career, and was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970...

, showed Moore a cheque

Cheque

A cheque is a document/instrument See the negotiable cow—itself a fictional story—for discussions of cheques written on unusual surfaces. that orders a payment of money from a bank account...

 for £125 he received after he'd won the men's singles for the third time. With the prize money was a warning note saying it couldn't be spent on food or clothes, as this might jeopardise his amateur status.

Moore's big moment came in 1948

1948 Wimbledon Championships - Men's Singles

Robert Falkenburg defeated John Bromwich 7–5 0–6 6–2 3–6 7–5 in the final to win the Gentlemen's Singles title at the 1948 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:The seeded players are listed below...

 when he reached the second round of the singles and met Tim Henman

Tim Henman

Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE is a retired English professional tennis player and former British Number One. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis that suited the grass courts of Wimbledon. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the...

's grandfather, Henry Billington

Henry Billington

Henry Billington was a British professional tennis player, and the maternal grandfather of Tim Henman.Billington competed at Wimbledon between 1948 and 1951, and also participated in the Davis Cup on three occasions....

, a Davis Cup

Davis Cup

The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...

 international. He was beaten, but took Billington to four sets. The next day, the Daily Mirror praised the performance of “the boy from up country”, though it didn't please Moore himself. The tennis club at hometown Stone boasted an impressive list of Wimbledon performers and “up country”, he felt, was a slur on the club and the whole town.

Moore later took up a coaching job in Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

and played tennis nearly all his life, well into his 80s.