LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A handwritten note sums up how Scott "Bama" and Leslie Moore remember Mark Pope.
The former LEX 18 employees have kept the letter for nearly 30 years. It reads:
"To Bama and Leslie, It was great to get to know you guys! I am counting on an invitation to a home-cooked meal and an Alabama-Auburn game. Plus, I want to meet Cloey!!! Keep in touch! Go CATS! And God Bless! Mark Pope #41 Josh 1:9."
"I don't remember him not smiling, and he had this great laugh you could hear, you knew he was coming," Scott told LEX 18.
"He was always just fun and would keep you laughing," said Leslie.
The Moores first knew Pope as a UK legend but came to know him off the court too, when he was hired as a True Blue fan reporter, covering the 1997 Cats.
Scott was a photojournalist paired with Pope for the tournament run.
"I'm at best 5'6. Probably 5'5," Scott said. "So, as a photographer, I'm walking around with a guy that's really tall. I embraced his personality, and he embraced mine."
The Cats didn't take home the trophy that year, but the Moores felt like winners after a double date in Indianapolis with Pope and his then-girlfriend, Lee Anne.
"It's just amazing that I was so comfortable sitting down and having supper with Mark Pope and his future wife," Scott said. "For me, the special part about Mark Pope is not that he's UK's basketball coach. It's that everyone else is getting to see what I saw in a person, and he's real."
Scott and Pope never made it to that Bama-Auburn game, but Scott joked he hopes the coach can pull some strings to make it happen.
Leslie said the dinner invitation still stands, as long as their house is clean before the Popes arrive.
