By Alexia Finney | Staff Writer
Long before social media, news print was the heartbeat of every community. Baylor Lariat alumnus Louis Moore made a name for himself covering religion, civil rights and history’s most significant moments at the Houston Chronicle. Even in his retirement, Moore still loves a good story.
Moore said he found his passion for journalism in an unconventional way.
“I came to Baylor thinking I would be a pastor,” Moore said. “I actually wanted to be a missionary. Then I took a journalism class and thought, ‘My gosh, I really like this.’ By the third semester, I was hooked.”
As he dug deeper into the world of journalism, Moore described the work as something he couldn’t resist.
“I just took to it like a duck to water,” Moore said.
Moore graduated in 1968 with his bachelor’s in journalism and continued his education by pursuing a master’s in religion. During his grad school years, Moore became The Baylor Lariat’s editor-in-chief — the first graduate student to serve in that position.
In the role, Moore said he witnessed historic moments on campus.
“The first anti-war demonstration on the Baylor campus, I came out of the chapel and there were protesters,” he said. “I thought, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’m seeing this.’”
One of the most defining memories of his time at Baylor was when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. Moore said he remembered rain that day as he watched the nation reevaluate their values.
“When Dr. King was killed, Baylor had just begun to integrate,” Moore said. “There were only a handful of Black students here. It was an awakening for the university and it forced a lot of us to look at ourselves and ask hard questions.”
During the 1970s and 1980s, Moore’s career advanced. He was the religion editor of the Houston Chronicle and president of the Religion Newswriters Association, now known as the Religion News Association, from 1984 to 1986.
During his time at the Houston Chronicle, Moore combined his ambition and reporting experience to become a known figure in religious journalism. His assignments ventured from Texas Southern Baptist churches to the Vatican.
“I traveled with John Paul the Pope,” he said. “I met with the Dalai Lama of Tibet. The Chronicle gave me the world to cover and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
His reporting earned national recognition, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 1985 for a series on Soviet Jews known as “Refuseniks” who were unable to flee the communist regime.
“I went to the Soviet Union when you weren’t supposed to go,” Moore said. “For the first few days, I thought, ‘What in the world am I doing?’ Eventually, I understood. I was at the right moment, at the right place, at the right time.”
His decades-long career placed him at the forefront of history.
“When the Episcopal Church voted to ordain women for the first time, I was sitting right next to a woman who had spent her whole life fighting for that right,” Moore said. “She was ecstatic. I’ll never forget that.”
He also covered the 1979 Southern Baptist Convention, a turning point that would change the denomination forever.
“I was there when it all began, the big fight that affected Baylor and everything else in 1979,” Moore said.
When reflecting on his successful and meaningful career, Moore said he earned recognition for his merit and for his willingness to listen and remain unbiased toward people of different faiths.
“When I covered religion, I wanted to show that Houston wasn’t just Southern Baptists,” he said. “There were Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jewish people, all part of the community. My goal was to introduce readers to people they might never meet otherwise.”
Moore’s wife, Kay, also worked at The Baylor Lariat and agreed with Louis.
“He really did bridge a gap,” Kay Moore said. “Communities were isolated back then. His reporting helped people realize, ‘They’re not so different from us.’”
Decades later, Louis Moore reads the New York Times, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News and The Baylor Lariat every morning.
Today, the couple leads Friends of Garland’s Historic Magic 11th Street, a preservation group spotlighting the stories of underrepresented communities in their hometown.
“We thought we’d be reporters forever,” Kay Moore said. “But journalism changed, publishing changed and we had to change, too. We’ve learned to reinvent ourselves — to keep using our gifts for something meaningful.”
Kay Moore said reinvention remains a constant theme in the couple’s life.
“When we worked in publishing, we thought we’d do that forever,” Kay Moore said. “Then, suddenly, everyone could publish their own book online. You think, ‘Well, what now?’ So you look for the next open window.”
Even today, Louis Moore continues to apply that same adaptability and commitment to storytelling, contributing to the couple’s mission at Garland.
“Journalism gave me a way to see the world and tell the truth about it,” he said. “It wasn’t about awards or recognition. It was about being a witness to the truth and helping my community understand the world around them.”
At nearly 80 years old, Louis Moore is the oldest living Baylor Lariat Editor-in-Chief still active in journalism, a testament to a career driven by more than ambition — by a love for journalism.
