Ray Moss - Furman Mentors


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RAY MOSS

    I entered Furman as an overweight 18-year-old . . . not terribly so, but I guess you could say my “freshman 15” were a bit premature. Exercise was a foreign concept, and my diet was fit for royalty, consisting of late-night runs to Dairy Queen and Burger King — and let’s not forget the pitchers of beer during rounds of midnight bowling.
    
    The summer after my sophomore year I decided to stay in Greenville instead of returning home to Columbia, and I enrolled in the required physical education course. I thought, “Why not go ahead and knock out an easy elective in summer school?” That was my first course with Dr. Ray Moss.
    
    Little did I know that it would change not only my college experience, but my life. At the time, I had no real direction. I had not declared a major, although I did have quite the collection of music courses on my record — so many, in fact, that I later decided to go ahead and complete my music degree. But I also went on to take two more elective courses with Dr. Moss — Nutrition and Adaptive Physical Education.
    
    When I entered Furman, I was not a runner. That began to change with that first HPE course. By the end of the summer, I was running four or five miles a day. After college, and on into graduate school, I continued to run for pleasure, to stay in shape and for sanity. Shortly after I received my master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling, I began to run competitively in 5Ks, then 10Ks, then half marathons and, eventually, on to the full marathon distance of 26.2 miles.
    
    My first job after graduate school was where the seed that Dr. Moss had planted began to blossom. My interest in helping people with disabilities that began in Dr. Moss’ Adaptive Physical Education course took a different route in my position as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for individuals with disabilities. The love for fitness that he sparked in me also took a strong hold as I began teaching aerobics and personal training on the side.
    
    After eight years in the fitness industry and just as many as a state employee, I finally decided to pursue my dreams of creating a small, intimate facility where people who were not comfortable in a gym setting could work out. My target market was the inactive and included the elderly, the out-of-shape, and people with physical limitations. The years went by, and although I thought often of Dr. Moss and how he had started me on my path to a life of fitness, I neglected to let him know how he had influenced me.
    
    Today I have a thriving business on Sullivan’s Island, S.C. Beginning as a small, 800-square-foot personal training studio in 2000, PrimeTime Fitness is housed in the same building, but has grown to almost 3,000 square feet. We offer not only personal training for individuals who need it the most, but also for members of the general population seeking motivation and education to become more fit. We offer gym memberships, group workouts, boot camps, programs for seniors and children, and more, and we are eager to accommodate individuals with disabilities.
    
    In addition to leading me down my professional path, instilling a love of fitness, and providing the foundation that has led me to inspire others, Dr. Moss has also helped me become a better runner. I can attribute this to an afternoon of surfing on the Internet, when I discovered the book, Run Less, Run Faster, co-authored by Dr. Moss and two of his Furman colleagues, Bill Pierce and Scott Murr. I purchased the book on a whim, not having any real intentions other than to own a book written by my former professor and (unbeknownst to him) mentor.
    
    But after reading it and following its training plans religiously, I set some personal goals for my career as a runner. What followed was a surprise to me and many of my running companions: The year I turned 40 I set personal records in the mile, 5K, 10K and half marathon.
    
    As a personal trainer, counselor, gym owner, and group exercise instructor, I can only hope to be an inspiration to others the way Ray Moss was for me. He taught me how to help others explore fitness, health, and the wonders of the human body — how it responds to the stress of exercise, how it uses food as fuel, and how to treat it so that it operates efficiently and effectively.
    
    Many people dread exercising, going to the gym, or working up a sweat. But Dr. Moss taught fitness in such a way that it was fun. Where else will you find a professor who will stand on his head and drink a glass of orange juice — just to demonstrate peristalsis to his Nutrition students?! If I can match that kind of enthusiasm and lead others to live and love a healthy lifestyle, my purpose will have been fulfilled.

   — MEREDITH MITCHELL NELSON ’90