George Masters

When George Masters passed away unexpectedly in May 1982, the affable Moorestown coach left not only a grieved family, but also a shocked fraternity of fellow coaches and players who loved and respected him.  Certainly not the least among them was Bill Gordon, who enjoyed a wonderful, friendly rival relationship with him for more than 25 years.  Their Thanksgiving Day rivalries over those years, while intense and hard fought, were also models of sportsmanship, thanks to the warm personalities of the two men.

According to Dick Loring, Masters' assistant for a quarter of a century, George was a laid back kind of coach; seldom getting his feathers ruffled or losing control by anything that happened on the gridiron.  "I was kind of a firebrand myself" smiled Loring in reminiscing about his old friend.  "I remember that my very first impression when I arrived as backfield coach was that he should be more dynamic and forceful, but the longer I coached with George, the more I admired and respected him."

"Even when things went badly and he lost a game on a fumble or freak play, he would just sigh at game's end and say, 'Well, we'll get 'em next year.'"  Renaming the Burlington County Football Club after George and Bill Gordon is a great idea, I believe.  The coaches of their era who knew and played against both of them would, I'm sure, agree to this honor."

Never one to blow his own horn - or whistle in this case - the burly good-natured leader chalked up a fine winning record over the years.  The father of four sons, all of whom played football at Moorestown High, continued and are still continuing to follow in his footsteps as coaches at various schools.

Don was a long time football coach in VanBuren, Ohio; George, Jr. was the head mat at Burlington City where he also coached wrestling for 18 seasons as well as softball; Steve assisted at Rancocas Valley and Jeffrey was once an assistant at Holy Cross.  George's legacy lives on in his children as well as in the memories of all those who played football with and against him.

Like Bill Gordon with Franco Harris, he was honored - and it meant a great deal to him; (according to Loring) - when former Moorestown High standout Dave (Lefty) Robinson was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and asked his old coach to introduce him.  This was a high honor, indeed, but indicative to what his former players thought of him, even years later.

Son, George, in commenting on the renaming of the Football Club, put it well when he said, "Looking back on things, I believe both my father and Coach Gordon were the epitome of what coaches should be."

"Burlington County is loaded with great coaches and great human beings and that's one of the things I love about coaching here.  The spirit of competition is high but not higher than the camaraderie that exists among us."

"As far as my Dad in concerned, he taught me and my brothers a valuable lesson- that to remember that football, although very intense, is still just a gam."

"I hope I always keep that in mind."

-Bill Barber