Nat Moore

Nat Moore was the grandson of his namesake, who had been president of Columbia University in the 1840s. In 1904, Nat Moore lived in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where he was a member of the local country club. The club was a member of the Western Golf Association and Moore was able to play on the team which won the Olympic gold medal. Moore also won a first round match individually at the Olympics before losing, 7 & 6, to Chandler Egan. Moore later moved to California where, in 1906 and 1908, he was runner-up in the Southern California Amateur. He qualified for match play once at the US Amateur, in 1902, when he lost in the second round to Egan’s cousin, Walter Egan. Moore was runner-up in the 1907 North and South Amateur.

Moore was from a wealthy family, and on his 21st birthday was given a fortune by his father, James Hobart Moore, president of the Rock Island Railroad. Profligate in his lifestyle, it is said he ran thru the money quickly, and he died in South Side Chicago’s famous Levee, a red-light district, with the cause later revealed to be from drugs.