“This has been the easiest transition in my career simply because I’m coming home,” said Klein College of Media and Communication alumna Breland Moore, KLN ’14 (she/her).

After spending time in Allentown, PA; Rochester, NY; and Kansas City, MO; Moore has returned to Philadelphia to work as a sports anchor at Fox 29 Philadelphia.

Since starting in May, during the middle of the Philadelphia 76ers playoffs, Moore has been quite busy. “In sports journalism, you don’t really get a ton of downtime to get your feet wet and get acclimated. You kind of have to jump right in,” she said. “It’s just constantly a go-go-go type of atmosphere, but that’s what makes it fun.”

Now, Moore is covering the Philadelphia Eagles’ preseason and is excited to be back in Philadelphia sports culture. She said while the fans in Rochester and Kansas City were passionate, nothing quite compares to the “die-hard bleed-Philly sports mentality” present in this city.

Moore’s team spirit has been a key part of her identity her whole life. During her time at Temple University, Moore played Temple’s mascot, Hooter the Owl, at sporting events. All those hours in costume in the heat were worth it, she said, because of the connections she was able to make in the athletics department and in the field of sports journalism.

“She was a real asset in and out of the costume for the athletic department,” said Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Operations Scott Walcoff (he/him). On the field, he said, Moore was animated and extroverted and even participated in some of the Diamond Gems dance team routines at games.

Off the field, Moore would go to local radio stations to promote games and even went to ESPN to film a commercial. Funnily enough, Moore also did some work as Hooter at the Fox 29 studio, and noted that it’s nice to be in her new workplace as a real person, and not as a giant owl.

“She is just a wonderful representative of Temple as a whole. She’s very proud of her time at Temple, and more specifically, she’s really proud of her time being Hooter,” Walcoff said.

Unfortunately, not everyone loved Hooter, including Moore’s best friend Gwen Begley KLN ’14 (she/her). “I was terrified of mascots. I had a phobia. I had a horrible phobia of all mascots. And she actually helped me get over that phobia,” Begley said.

Begley noted that Moore supported her, and still supports her, in more ways than just facing her fear of mascots. After they graduated in 2014, both worked at Service Electric Cable TV in Allentown and lived together until Moore left for Rochester. During that time, they got a cat together named Winnie, named after Winifred Sanderson from Hocus Pocus, and helped each other get better at their craft. To this day, they still send each other their reels and stories they are working on.

“It’s really nice to have her back in town because now I can just see her whenever I want,” Begley said. She hopes they can continue their tradition of dressing up in ridiculous 90s television costumes and coming to Temple’s campus for Halloween.

In addition to her double life as Hooter, Moore was also a member of Temple’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and worked in the Office of Sustainability during her time as a Klein student. In the latter, she combined her athletics experience with sustainability and pursued green initiatives for the Liacouras Center.

Moore is grateful to all of the people like Walcoff and Begley who are in her corner today.

“It’s just wonderful to be able to bounce around and cover all these wonderful different things that make people happy,” Moore said. “I’m so privileged to be able to work in the community that raised me.”