2023 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 18
BY SENATORS BERNARD AND BOUDREAUX
A RESOLUTION
To commend Lori Lyons upon receiving the 2023 Distinguished Service Award in Sports
Journalism and on being inducted into the 2023 class of the Louisiana Sports Hall
of Fame.
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches, Louisiana, each year
collaborates with the Louisiana Sports Writers Association in selecting a limited number of
sports figures who embody the character, skill, and talent worthy of being named to the Hall
of Fame; and
WHEREAS, the Distinguished Service Award is the most prestigious honor offered
to sports media in the state and recipients are carefully chosen after an extensive deliberation
by a forty-member expert panel based on professional accomplishments in local, state,
regional, and national arenas; and
WHEREAS, Lori Lyons, an acclaimed south Louisiana prep writer, has been selected
for the 2023 Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism from the Louisiana Sports
Writers Association and is a member of the 2023 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction
Class; and
WHEREAS, Lyons' interest in writing and reporting surfaced at an early age; while
attending Terrebonne High School, Lyons was a staff member of her school's newspaper The
Mirror and also became the assistant society editor of the city of Houma's newspaper The
Courier; and
WHEREAS, following high school, Lyons attended Loyola University in New
Orleans and staffed the university's newspaper The Maroon before graduating in 1987 with
a degree in English; and
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WHEREAS, she began her professional sports writing career as a sports agate clerk
at The Times-Picayune in 1986 and twenty-five years later rose to become the president of
the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA), only the second woman elected to that
office, with an impressive collection of writing awards; and
WHEREAS, climbing a steep hill at a time when women sports journalists were
uncommon in Louisiana, Ms. Lyons became the high school reporter for the
Times-Picayune's River Parishes Bureau in 1991, remaining there until the newspaper's
reduction in forces in 2012; and
WHEREAS, during her time with the Times-Picayune, Lyons was selected twice (in
1992 and 2004) by out-of-state judges as the LSWA Prep Writer of the Year and in 2008,
as recipient of the LSWA's prestigious Mac Russo Award for contributions to the ideals and
progress of the organization; in 2008, she was also honored by the Louisiana High School
Sports Writers Association as its Prep Writer of the Year; and
WHEREAS, Lyons served as president of the LSWA from 2012 to 2014, helping to
oversee the opening of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History
Museum in Natchitoches; she also created, launched, and currently maintains the LSWA's
website and Facebook page; and
WHEREAS, between 2012 and 2015, Lyons continued to cover sports and other
matters of interest in the River Parishes as a freelance reporter until she became the sports
editor at L'Observateur in LaPlace in 2015, winning a Louisiana Press Association writing
award as well as an award for Best Photo; and
WHEREAS, after leaving L'Observateur in 2017, she continued freelance reporting
for multiple media outlets; and
WHEREAS, she is a longstanding member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame
selection committee and for 25 years served on the Allstate Sugar Bowl Greater New
Orleans Sports Hall of Fame selection panel; and
WHEREAS, in addition to sports writing, Lyons is an occasional mom blogger and
has authored Adoption in America: The Diary of a Mom-in-Waiting, an account of her and
husband Marty Luquet's quest to adopt a baby; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Lyons currently teaches high school journalism, creative writing,
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and multimedia at Riverside Academy in Reserve and is the Advisor for the Rebel Express
student news website.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby commend Lori Lyons for receiving the 2023 Distinguished Service Award in
Sports Journalism and on being inducted into the 2023 class of the Louisiana Sports Hall of
Fame.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Lori Lyons.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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