Giving Back
For Jim and Shannon Mora, running their Count on Me Family Foundation is merely an extension of the love they have for their own children. “If using Jim’s name will help one child,” says Shannon, “then we’ll do it.”
The foundation was established in 2005 in Atlanta, when Jim was head coach of the Falcons. Though Jim is no longer employed in the city, the Moras have kept their ties there. Atlanta is co-headquarters of the foundation and the work the Moras started there continues. Terri Hickman Grunduski, the foundation’s executive director, still is based in Atlanta.
Before she and Jim were married, Shannon worked nine years for Nordstrom, finishing her career there as lead women’s shoe buyer in San Diego, the same city where Jim received his first pro football coaching position. Shannon uses some of those shoe-buying skills in her foundation work.
The Holiday Shop at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is one such example. There, several items were purchased or donated so patients in the hospital could “shop” for their families. Shannon says they plan to set up a similar shop in Seattle.
Fundraisers are another avenue for securing donations and Shannon goes full-tilt with her requests. For one “Super Seattle Send-Off Benefit Bash” she was able to set up an “American Idol Dream Package,” which included tickets to the final show of Season 6 — complete with backstage passes. “Shannon is really good at galvanizing people and rallying for a cause,” Jim says. “She’s not afraid to ask for anything.”
Locally, the foundation has held a Lucky Strike Bowling Benefit Bash in Bellevue and the Jim Mora Celebrity Golf Classic at Snoqualmie Ridge.
The Special Olympics also are near and dear to the Moras’ hearts, as are the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the American Heart Association. Details: countonmefoundation.org
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Five sentences into his opening remarks as the new head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Jim Mora laid his heart out in front of the gathered reporters.
“I want to acknowledge the most important person in my life: my wife, Shannon, who’s sitting back there,” Mora said. “This is a tough business. It takes a special lady to endure the ups and downs and the moods and the highs and lows that we encounter as a head football coach in this business, and I have the best that you could ever imagine. I wouldn’t be sitting here without her.”
And neither would their four children, Cole, 14; Lillia, 12; Ryder, 10; and Trey, 6. Not to mention Dash, a feral cat rescued by Shannon and the kids. The sentimental statement may seem out of place for a man who’s now in his second stint as a head coach in the rough-and-tumble National Football League. But, to Mora, the words about his wife are heartfelt.
“Yeah, it’s a partnership,” he says of the relationship that began as a college romance at the University of Washington. “But I’m the junior member of the partnership. Shannon is absolutely without a doubt the boss of not just the house, but the family.”
To which Shannon asked: “Are you saying I’m the boss of you?”
Jim’s answer: “You’re the boss; clearly, it’s always been that way.”
Jim played linebacker on Don James’ Husky football teams and Shannon was a cheerleader. The relationship may sound cliché, but it was anything but. The two dated for roughly a decade, but Jim says he knew early on exactly where that courtship was headed. “The very second I saw her,” Jim says, “which is 27 years ago or so, I said, ‘I’m marrying that girl.’ ”
And he did. Now they are like most long-time married couples. They can provide the key word that sparks the other person’s memory. They share cups of coffee and the duties of raising a family. They even do charity work together and finish each other’s sentences. Listen to them talk about their wedding:
“He helped plan it ...”
“Helped?”
“... because I didn’t really have a vision ...”
“I did plan it.”
" ... I was kind of like, ‘Just show me where to show up and I’ll be there ...’ ”
“I picked out the flowers. I picked out the food. I picked out the music.”
And, after all these years, Jim still believes he picked the right girl.
Winning Wife, Mom And More
Shannon has taken the science of being a wife and a mother and turned it into an art form. She deftly uses terms such as “sis,” “sissy,” “bro,” and “brother” when talking with one child about the other, fixing their roles in the family. And none of the kids as much as flinches when she explains to a visitor how she decides which child’s event to attend — whichever is her “favorite that day.” They don’t buy it for a minute.
“She’s the one that’s really good at multi-tasking,” Jim says. “At keeping things organized; at keeping her cool when there’s chaos. I am during a game. I’m not at home, but, fortunately, she is.”
Shannon pulls out neatly stacked glass storage dishes from the refrigerator. Inside the first there are red grapes — already washed and pulled from the stems — and freshly cut honeydew melon in the second. The kids dig in while mom heats up and serves spaghetti and tomato sauce. She sets up, feeds, puts away and cleans the kitchen counters with ridiculous ease.
In the family room just off the kitchen, Jim has taken a reporter’s tape recorder and is walking around with Trey at his heels. In the process, Jim makes another emphatic statement about his wife.
“I would like to say that, without a doubt, Shannon Mora is not only the engine of the family, she’s also the conductor and the glue, and without her we would not be able to function as we do. Not only does she manage four kids, but she also is the president of our family foundation and she runs — I’m president, she’s vice-president — (from the kitchen: “Jim is just a figurehead!”) and she has also reorganized the Seattle Seahawks Women’s Association, which will do charitable good works throughout the Seattle area. She also chauffeurs four kids to multiple sporting events, takes them to school in the morning, picks them up, takes them to the doctors, takes them to their friends’ (houses), makes sure that they’re happy, makes sure that they’re well-rounded and well-adjusted and allows me just to coach football.”
From Hot Dog Vendor To Head Coach
For those who haven’t noticed, football is the other great love of Jim Mora’s life.
The oldest of James Earnest and Connie Mora’s three sons, Jim often has been referred to as “Jr.” And although he used that name in the cover letters that garnered him his first NFL coaching gig in San Diego, he isn’t truly a “junior.” Jim’s full name is James Lawrence Mora.
Calling himself a “junior” on his cover letters certainly didn’t hurt Jim’s chances of getting a job. His father provided him with a strong football pedigree. Jim E. Mora also was a head football coach in the NFL, and helped turn two perennial losing teams — the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts — into winners.
In fact, it was his father’s football coaching career that first introduced Jim Mora to Seattle. When Jim was 12, his dad got a coaching job under Don James at UW, and three years later was hired as a defensive line coach for Jack Patera’s Seattle Seahawks. Growing up, Jim attended Hyak Junior High and Interlake High School in Bellevue. Then it was on to UW.
“What I’m experiencing now in my profession is so rare,” Jim says. “To be able to come back home to where you grew up and coach the team you grew up watching — that your dad coached ... I sold hot dogs in the Kingdome. I worked in the visitors’ locker room for the Seahawks. I remember the first Seahawks game, the first playoff win.
“When I was in junior high in metal shop, I made out of metal this Seahawks helmet and my mom kept it all these years. When I got the job, she sent it to me. So, I made it when I was 13, (now) it’s in my office.” To which his wife says, “I’d love to see some of that handiwork now. Seriously, welding? Come on now.”
Life Off The Field
The Pacific Northwest is strongly reflected in the Moras Bellevue home. That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who knows Jim. He has repeatedly called the area his “favorite place on earth.” The home underwent a major remodel that was designed in large part by Jim’s brother, Mike, a partner with Heliotrope Architects in Seattle. Now, the house is inviting and features floor-to-ceiling windows, skylights, decks and an open floor plan.
Each room is a gathering space for family and friends. Even the backyard has cozy deck furniture. There is limited privacy by design – the master bedroom deck is shared with Lillia’s bedroom – and the kids take baths, Shannon says, not in their own bathroom but in their parents’ tub. The house isn’t decorated with football memorabilia as you might expect, but is instead punctuated by stone fountains and the soothing sounds of water trickling through rocks.
In the basement, Shannon coaxed the contractor into building a carpeted platform so they could have a mini movie theatre and then put the finishing touches with a small Jukebox Popcorn machine.
“Our life pretty much revolves around our kids and their activities and that’s OK with us because we love watching them practice and play,” Jim says.
But surely that must change once the frenzied NFL season begins?
Jim says it doesn’t.
Shannon agrees. “It remains family. You gotta do what you gotta do. And Jim is totally checked in — he has work and family.”
Katy Khakpour attended the University of Washington with Jim Mora.
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