By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

As a youngster in Indianapolis, Moe Gardner frequently found enjoyment in the intellectual tranquility of a library. His mother, Mynelle, a kindergarten teacher in Indy's school system, would often drop him off at the family's local library for an afternoon of exploring books.

Moe loved Ray Bradbury's science fiction books, devoured J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis's works of fantasy, and even indulged in Black Panther and X-Men comics.

"Growing up in a working-class family, I spent a ton of time at the library," Gardner said. "It was always kind of a safe space for me. I was just that kind of kid growing up and my mother totally saw the trajectory and connected it with me."

Then, as a teenager, Moe had a growth spurt, bursting out to a frame that eventually expanded to 6-feet-3 and 260 pounds. Predictably, sports became a more relevant part of his life.

Playing alongside future Fighting Illini teammate Darrick Brownlow at Cathedral High School, Gardner excelled at football, winning all-state and all-city honors. Still, Moe's skills as a defensive lineman didn't totally define him as a person.

"That natural feel of books and history and research were always something that I had a really strong interest in," he said.

Moe Gardner transformed into one of the Orange & Blue's finest performers.

Mike White, then the University of Illinois's coach, convinced Moe to become a Fighting Illini. From 1987 through 1990, Moe Gardner transformed into one of the Orange & Blue's finest performers. He became a three-time first team All-Big Ten selection, leading the team in tackles for loss three-consecutive seasons and ending his career with an Illini record fifty-seven TFLs. 

The Outland Trophy and Rotary Lombardi Award finalist was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 1990 and was chosen in the fourth round of the '91 National Football League Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. As an NFL rookie, Gardner recorded 96 tackles and three sacks in the 1991 NFL season. Statistically, his best year came in 1993 as he amassed 128 tackles, two sacks, and forced a fumble, finishing second overall on the team.

Following the 1996 campaign, Gardner hung up his pads.

"Physically and talent-wise, the NFL just ran its course for me," he said. "I played all the football out of my body that I had in it. Honestly, I was probably fortunate to get those six years in."

Already a father of three young children with his wife, Roberta, Gardner was eager to discover life after football. He did a video internship at Atlanta-based CNN-Sports Illustrated, archiving and indexing sports clips. It piqued his interest and soon he enrolled at Clark Atlanta University to seek his master's degree in library science. Moe served a short stint at a local public library and, twelve years ago, landed with his current employer, Atlanta's acclaimed Auburn Avenue Research Library (AARL). The facility is the first public library in the Southeast to offer specialized reference and archival collections dedicated to the study and research of African American culture and history and of other peoples of African descent.

Today, Moe Gardner's professional title is as the AARL's Public Services Librarian Principal, serving in the Reference, Research and Programs Division of the AARL. He assists scholars and PhD candidates who study the African diaspora on a global scale. Gardner also helps facilitate scholarly public lectures within the academic communities and creates events that encourage the public to come in and utilize those resources.

He says that 2020 is a significant year in African American studies, marking the 400^th anniversary of when the first enslaved Africans were brought to North America. The New York Times award-winning series entitled "1619" aims to reframe the United States' history by focusing on the consequences of slavery and the contribution of black Americans.

Externally, in terms of public awareness, Gardner says that Black History Month is a launching point for AARL's year, but his objective is to highlight it consistently throughout the year.

Moe's grandfather, Albert Umphrey, was an All-America halfback at Tennessee State in the mid 1930s and went on to run some of the community athletic programs in Indianapolis. One of Gardner's hometown's most famous legacies revolves around Crispus Attucks High School.

"Through my uncles and aunts and grandparents, I learned how important Oscar Robertson was to the black community and how important that state championship was to them," Gardner said. "It was a sacred thing for them. When you look at the movie "Hoosiers," you're actually talking about that same Crispus Attucks team. They were placed in the shadows in that film. There was a strong, resonating story of perseverance and community and a true celebration of the black experience that got totally overshadowed by the story about the Hickory team. But that's the kind of work we do at the Auburn Avenue Research Library, to place stories side by side so that we can get a true understanding about the contextual landscape of not just race in America, but American history."

Last June, Gardner got the opportunity to meet and work with another African American hero of the Circle City—NASCAR legend Willy T. Ribbs.

"Though I grew up in Indianapolis, I was never much of a racing fan," Gardner said. "It just wasn't a something that someone in my community followed that much. When Willy T. Ribbs came onto the scene as a racer (1986), it was the same kind of visceral thing that Tiger Woods did for golf within the black community. Just his presence alone invigorated communities of color to become interested in racing. Willy T. Ribbs did this for me when I was growing up as a kid. His name was something that, all of a sudden, you'd hear conversations in barber shops about this Black NASCAR racer."

When Gardner received a call from the African American Film Critics Association to see if the AARL would have an interest in screening Ribbs' documentary, he jumped at the chance.

"It was just a really powerful thing for me to meet him," Gardner said. "Seeing this man compete in an otherwise completely dominant field of white racers and then being able to talk to him and hear his experience was amazing. I'm not a person who's typically star struck, but to understand the scope and depth of what he was dealing with in kind of an institutional, racist structure, and then to see the fortitude he had to deal with some significant obstacles was truly amazing. We have a two-hundred capacity theater here at the library, and it was packed. To see how his presence resonated with them was gratifying."

Today, Gardner assists scholars and PhD candidates who study the African diaspora on a global scale at the Auburn Avenue Research Library (AARL).

Moe says he's blessed to be engaged in an environment and with a subject matter for which he has a true reverence.

"Some of it's pure luck that I was standing in the right place at the right time and things just worked out for me," he says.

In June, Moe and his wife, Roberta, a 1991 UI alumnus and now a professor of literacy education at Georgia's Kennesaw State University, will celebrate their thirty-second anniversary. Their children include daughter Morgan (30), son Andrew (28), daughter Price (26), and son Nicholas (21).