Making the annual trek to the NCAA Convention is a way of life of Little East Conference Commissioner William Moore.

He attended his first in 1952, and the 2008 gathering in Nashville will be his last, because after being involved in some way in intercollegiate athletics, the 81-year-old Moore is set to retire March 31.

Moore has served as a coach in football and baseball, an athletics director, faculty member and conference commissioner through the years. He has been a member of various NCAA committees as well, currently with the Division III Men's Basketball Committee.

"What I will remember most are all the people I worked with," Moore said. "You might be sitting at a table at NCAA committee meetings, and someone sneaks up behind you and slaps you on the back. It might be somebody you haven't seen in a few years. That kind of thing was wonderful."

After serving in the Navy from 1944-46, Moore enrolled at Tennessee Tech, where he was a football and basketball student-athlete. He earned a bachelor's degree in health and physical education in 1948.

In 1949, he earned a master's degree at the University of Tennessee and obtained his Ph.D. from Michigan in 1954.

Moore began his professional career at Shepherd College in 1951 where he was the athletics director, football coach and men's basketball coach.

He worked in various capacities for 30 years at Central Connecticut State University and another decade (1983-1993) at the University of Albany.

All the while, Moore witnessed the many changes the Association has undergone the last 50-plus years.

"The benchmarks of my career are being a part of broad-based athletics programs for the NCAA," Moore said. "There has been great emphasis upon diversity. The growth of women's programs has been tremendous. It's been interesting to see the overall growth of intercollegiate athletics."