Moses Horn III, building a legacy of his own
Tears rapidly trickled down and hands were gripped even tighter as the unknowing future college athlete begged his parents from the back seat of their Ford F-150 to turn around. Pleas ignored, the truck arrived at its scheduled destination where young Moses Horn III at just the age of six, would go on to do great things: the football field.
Upon earning his Bachelors in Sports Management in December 2021, Horn decided to continue his studies at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) as a graduate student, seeking to earn his Masters in Business Association.
During his time as an undergrad, Horn was involved with the Javelina football team as an offensive lineman.
“I always wanted to be a part of something and football felt like the easier way for me to do that. I’ve always been good at it, but it also forced me to be in more uncomfortable situations. I have to step up to be a leader and speak up for myself and others, which is something I struggled with early on as a child,” Horn said.
Alongside football, his father and high school offensive line coach, Coach Dorsey, shaped him into the man he is today. Horn states that his father taught him to work hard for what he wants. Before his father’s passing, he left him with the quote, what you do in practice makes you good, what you do on your own makes you great, which Horn always tries to build on.
When Horn’s father passed away, Horn stated his appreciation that Dorsey stepped in as a father figure and got him back on track to where he needed to be.
“My fathers passing made me a better person. Even when my father was living I wasn’t as hard working or as disciplined as I am now. I knew my dad was known but I didn’t know he was 1000 people show up to his funeral known. Just seeing that, I thought if I worked hard, I hope to impact that many people, as well,” Horn reminisces.
Horn states that his goal is to one day build a legacy as his father did, which is to be known as a man who is honest and who always upholds his promises.
The graduate football player is working towards becoming an NFL scout with the Indianapolis Colts or attaining an internship with the Las Vegas Raiders football team. He also has an interest in moving to Houston to coach for his high school alma mater.
Adding on to his list of extracurriculars, Horn is a joint student intern, working for both the Alumni Association and Athletic Department on campus.
Vice President for Institutional Advancement Brad Walker states the alumni office’s excitement when recruiting Horn.
“We met him and he just seemed to get what we do in dealing with alumni. He talked about the javelina family and what that means to him. The way he talked sounded like our alumni, which is different from most students and he’s coming at it from a unique experience and perspective that we felt would be a really good addition for our office,” Walker boasted.
Horn slowly transitioned from the alumni to the athletic department, giving him the chance to work more closely towards his career goals.
“The Alumni Department was a lot of talking and reaching out to people, so when they moved me to athletics it just made it easier to build that connection with people because of my athletic background,” Horn said.
At the Athletic Department, Horn helps draw up corporate sponsorship contracts and sits in on meetings and negotiations. He recently attended both the Valero and Javelina Stations negotiation meetings and even helped come up with Valero’s partnered slogan.
“Moses is exactly what you want a student-athlete to be. He takes his academics very seriously, he is a hard worker, and he is making a positive impact on this campus and community,” Executive Director of Athletics Steve Roach said.
Horn hopes that his current position in life helps him build strong relationships with pro-athletes in his future.
“Balancing school life and being a student athlete is not very difficult if you know how to manage time and prioritize what needs to be done first and what needs to be done later,” Horn said.
He typically wakes up around five in the morning, attends practice, work, weights and is in bed by nine.
Besides football, Horn enjoys fishing and cooking. His favorite foods to make are burgers and chicken marsala. He recently learned how to cook paprika chicken and rice bake, one of his now go-to meals.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a control freak in the kitchen. I actually have around five apps on my phone that send me different recipes to try each day,” Horn said.
Every new recipe comes with trial and error, success and disaster.
“I failed horribly at cooking ratatouille. It didn’t go well at all. I almost burned the house down actually,” Horn said.
Horn also recently got back into collecting vinyl records with the purchase of Kanye’s The College Dropout album and a Marvin Gaye album, his favorite album of all time.
A man of many interests, this soon to be graduate is always willing to try new things, a skill that he states will continue to benefit him in the future.
“I would have never found out I could sing if my grandmother didn’t force me to go up on stage when I was 12 and sing lead in Father Abraham in the church choir. You never know what you can do until you try. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll build up the courage to skydive,” Horn finishes.
Fast-forward seven years from the young boy crying in his parents truck.
The blinding stadium lights gleamed and the packed house erupted in cheers as Horn’s sixth grade football team, the Southwest Steers, took home their trophies, winning the Little League Superbowl, seven years later. It was in that moment, when Horn fell in love with that championship feeling, that team feeling and finally grew to love the sport he once begged his parents not to make him play.
