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Coaching is all about giving back to the athletes: Hall of fame inductee

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For Alec Murray, who is among five people being inducted into the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame next Friday night, coaching is all about giving back to the athletes, the same way he was treated when he participated in sports.

“I had a lot of good coaches when I was in high school and they had a lot of influences on me, as did my parents, and I can’t think of any better way to give back what was given to me when I was young,” Murray said at the annual Sports Hall of Fame luncheon on Tuesday at the Invista Centre.

“There were a lot of coaches and volunteers who gave their time and effort for the good of the kids and that’s what it’s all about.”

Murray is going into the hall with sailor and builder Ross Cameron, former World Hockey Association player and American Hockey League player and executive Bruce Landon, builder Hank Kelly, and retired Saskatchewan Roughriders football player Mike McCullough.

The induction ceremony will take place on Friday, May 4, at the Ramada Inn and Conference Centre on Benson Street.

The latest inductees bring the hall membership up to 173 since its inception in 1995.

Murray committed more than 50 years to the local sports scene as an athlete, coach, referee and volunteer.

He attended Queen Elizabeth Collegiate as a student and a teacher.

He was a multi-sport athlete while in high school. Upon graduation, he was recruited to run track and cross-country at Mankato State College in Minnesota, lettering there for three years.

Murray returned after university to his former high school and became a teacher and coached basketball, football, track and cheerleading for 30 years.

He was also a basketball referee for years, seeing the game from both the coaching and officiating perspectives.

Murray said that gave him a better insight into the game.

“I was coaching the game and refereeing the game, so you see both sides, so you know how tough it is sometimes for other people refereeing and the same thing when they’re coaching,” he said.

After retiring from teaching, Murray continued to coach basketball at Regiopolis-Notre Dame and Holy Cross, where in 2011 he coached the junior girls basketball team to a city championship.

As well, from 1983 to 1985 Murray coached the women’s basketball team at St. Lawrence College, winning an Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championship. In 1993 he was an assistant coach of the Queen’s Gaels men’s basketball team, and again in 1999 and 2001.

Murray still can’t believe he’s going into the local hall.

“It’s a great honour. I’m a little shocked still and very much looking forward to Friday night when I can give my thanks,” he said.

Jack Aldridge, a former high school teacher and coach, worked with Murray at Queen Elizabeth Collegiate for the last eight years of his career.

Aldridge, an inductee in 2015, said when he arrived at QECVI, Murray was already an institution there.

“The number of hours he spent at that gym was phenomenal,” Aldrige said. “I thought at the very least they should have named the gym the Alex Murray Gym. That would have been a fitting thing for them to do.”

Aldridge said Murray coached both boys and girls basketball in the junior and senior divisions and was a mentor to many players.

“You talk to a lot of the kids who’ve gone on to coach or gone on to play, and they attribute 99 per cent of what they know to him,” Aldridge said. “He was one of the leading coaches in eastern Ontario.

“QE had some terrific teams and he coached them all. He wore his emotions on his sleeve when he coached. He was right up there with the kids almost.

“He was just good at coaching.”

imacalpine@postmedia.com

Twitter: @IanMacAlpine 

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