Honor Roll – Spring/Summer 2011
Glee Club Legend Lives On The legacy of Lyle Moore is about so much more than music. But music is where it started. The call to Lyle from Gonzaga President Daniel Reidy, S.J., in December 1928 was providential. GU wanted to start a men’s glee club. Would Lyle direct the group? He said yes, of course. The rest is history. Cherie and Lyle Moore at Lyle’s 90th birthday party.
Under Lyle’s direction, the Glee Club became a traveling, singing sensation, with celebrity status that rivaled today’s Gonzaga basketball teams. The group sang with Bing Crosby to a national audience, traveled thousands of miles to perform, and built a tradition of excellence that continues today, even though the Glee Club’s last performance was in 1958. The 450 or so young men who sang under Lyle strived for perfection, demonstrated tremendous discipline and loyalty, and inspired others with their talent and teamwork. Thanks to Lyle, these attributes carried over into other aspects of the members’ lives. “True Glee Clubbers know that the music was only a medium,” says the narrator on a Glee Club reunion video made several years ago. “Because we learned excellence from Lyle, are sick people treated more skillfully? Are schools better suited to the learning needs of children? Are corporations better managed? Are courts and legal systems more fair to people? Are social systems more caring? I think those who observe the results of our efforts in our respective fields would say yes.”