He's 68 and sets the pull-up bar high

By Scott Mathews

Correspondent

If retired Navy Cmdr. Billy Moore ever challenges you to a pull-up competition, don't accept it.

At 68, the Croatan resident participates in and routinely wins pull-up contests by beating military men a third his age.

The challenge of most contests is to see how many pull-ups a contestant can complete within two minutes.

"You must never touch the ground, and your chin must completely go over the bar," Moore explained. Any grip is allowed, and there are no age categories.

Moore has made the pursuit of physical fitness his life's goal.

He began doing pull-ups on his school's playground when he was in third grade. In ninth grade, he began doing one-handed pull-ups.

In 1980, on his 38th birthday, Moore completed 38 pull-ups in one minute. Although he did not know it until later, those 38 pull-ups had broken the world record, he said.

Moore retired as a Navy aviator in 1991.

He entered his first competition in 2008 at Oceana Naval Air Station and won first place by completing 40 consecutive pull-ups. He was 30 years older than any of his competitors.

"It was my personal-best performance," Moore said.

Since then, he has won or placed second in each pull-up contest he's entered. He recently entered his sixth contest at Oceana's gymnasium and competed against 60 others.

He finished a close second by completing 33 pull-ups in two minutes. The winner finished with 36.

Willie Tate, organizer of the twice-a-year pull-up contests at Oceana, calls Moore a great role model.

"He's a regular patron in the gym and comes in for a full workout on a daily basis, Monday through Friday. He's a very motivated individual."

Moore admits to being a meticulous record keeper and has kept log books of his athletic performance throughout most of his life.

"Each day, I feel that I must enter something in that log book. If I don't, I feel that I've failed, I've let myself down for that day."

Moore's logs reveal the following,

n largest number of pull-ups in one day (Sept. 19, 1988 ) = 345

n maximum number of recorded pull-ups in a year (1988) = 8,749

n estimated number of pull-ups in a 10-year period (1979 - 1989) = 40,000

n estimated number of pull-ups in a lifetime ( age 10 to present) = 80,000

"Most folks my age don't engage in pull-ups," Moore said. "It's like a kid's game.

"Sure, I like to win these pull-up challenges. I get some satisfaction from whipping these kids at the pull-up bar."

Moore admits he's trying to set an example for the younger generation.

His goal is to inspire them to see that any kind of physical fitness should become a part of their lives.

Scott Mathews, scott.mathews1@verizon.net