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For the better part of five years, at least a portion of my life has been dedicated to covering the news of Southeast Texas.

I started stringing for the Beaumont Enterprise covering high school football when I was still in college at Lamar. After I graduated, I kept stringing for The Enterprise and The Port Arthur News until The News gave me my first fulltime job in 2018.

I mainly covered Nederland and news regarding the county government.

That opportunity led me to cover breaking news for The Enterprise and that led me back to The News in 2020 as the Sports Editor, which is the position I have held since.

Over the past few years, I have grown incredibly fond of the area high schools and their athletic programs. I have been able to tell the stories of remarkable student athletes and the coaches who have been responsible for their development.

I have formed great bonds with coaches and players.

In the media, you are not supposed to outwardly root for a team. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t root for Memorial, Nederland and Port Neches-Groves when they played.

It was great watching Nederland’s group in 2020 make a deep playoff run with that group of seniors. It was cool to see Memorial get over the hump this year and make a nice run. They will be back. It has been incredible to watch PNG put together this run, which is as far a playoff run I have ever covered. I do hate that I will not be able to see it through.

I want to thank all of the sources. Coaches have been great to me. I have been able to reach out to many coaches at various times of day at various points of the year and most of them got back to me. I am truly thankful for that.

Coaches have allowed me to have access to their programs and have opened their doors. I appreciate all of the off-the-record conversations that will remain off the record (until my tell-all book comes out. Just kidding).

Most importantly, I want to thank all of the students and student athletes. These are the stories I get to tell. Without y’all, this job is meaningless and no one cares. Your great stories of triumph and ability to overcome is what makes the story great. Shoutout to some of the players who used the nicknames I gave them in the paper. That was truly the highlight of my career so far.

Lastly I want to thank the readers. Thank you for caring. I read all of the comments, whether they were positive or negative. Thank you for letting me tell your children’s stories. Thank you all for sharing them on social media. I am, without a doubt, going to miss this and I have all of you to thank for that.

I also cannot thank Port Arthur Newsmedia enough for everything. This company gave me my start and the leadership hear allowed me to grow. Not any paper would allow me to take some of the creative swings I took, but it is appreciated and I am rooting for this paper to keep growing and dominating, which I know it will.

Now that you have suffered through this drawn-out goodbye letter, I will give you the news. I am taking the News Editor position at Meatingplace.com. My official last day is Thursday. Meatingplace is a trade publication that focuses on the meat industry.

It is a different step for me, but it is a challenge I look forward to. The position allows me to work from home and is a good move for my growing family. We have our third child due in late February/early March. I am not physically going anywhere. Just changing jobs. All of the people who still have my number should not feel the need to get rid of it, unless it brings you some type of joy to do so.

I will still be around and one might still spot me lurking around on the sidelines from time to time.

It was an incredible run, and I am forever grateful to all of you. Cheers and thanks for reading one more time.

 

Chris Moore is the sports editor for Port Arthur Newsmedia. He can be reached at chris.moore@panews.com.