MOULTRIE — There was no softball commissioner per se in Colquitt County during the years the Moultrie Recreation Department played host to some of the nation’s top slow-pitch players, teams and tournaments at the Knuck McCrary Complex.

But Alvin Moore was so instrumental in running those Amateur Softball Association and other tournaments, that Joe Clark took to referring to him as the community’s Commissioner of Softball.

It was a well-earned unofficial designation.

Moore had a reputation as a hard-working, fair and honest representative of Colquitt County and was well-known throughout the state.

When Moore was inducted into the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame in 2009, outstanding softball player David Whittington said, “Alvin Moore was known for bringing the best, presenting the best and fulfilling the best tournaments.”

Moore, who died May 20 at age 83, at his home in Moultrie, ran the recreation department’s softball program, which had as many as 18 teams in its men’s City League and 25 in its men’s Church League, for 20 years and also had been an umpire and coach for many years.

George Alvin Moore was born in Moultrie, where he grew up before his parents moved to Camilla before his senior year in high school.

He graduated from Mitchell County High with honors in 1957, but soon moved back to Colquitt County.

He began umpiring recreation baseball and softball in 1963 and when Julian McCorkle stepped down in 1970 after running the recreation department’s softball program for a number of years, Jim Buck Goff hired Moore to take it on.

The McCrary Sports Complex was built in the mid-1970s, the recreation department began playing host to state and national tournaments.

Moore said it was rare for a Moultrie tournament to have fewer than 18 teams.

One year, a team from Alaska traveled to Moultrie to play in an 18-and-under boys national tournament.

In 1988, a Class A Church Tournament was held in Moultrie that featured 84 teams.

One year, Atlanta’s Pearl Beer Rangers, featuring former Atlanta Braves Tony Cloninger and Jim Nash and former Atlanta Falcons tight end Jim Mitchell, came to Moultrie to compete.

Moore was one of the key reasons the recreation department was able to attract the large state and national tournaments to rural Colquitt County.

“I just tried to treat everybody fairly,” Moore said. “I think Moultrie got recognized. People knew where we were.”

The Amateur Softball Association, the sanctioning body of most of the tournaments held in Colquitt County, named Moore a deputy commissioner.

Moore’s position with the recreation department was a part-time one, but he treated it as if it were full-time.

Moore also coached a number of successful youth softball teams, including Spirit of 77, which was the first Colquitt County 18-and-under softball team to go to a state tournament.

He was joined in the Spirit of 77 dugout by Bobby Cobb and Bill Christopher.

Moore also was the public address announcer for Packers football games at Mack Tharpe Stadium for 13 seasons and was one of founding members of the Packer Booster Club.