Roger Goodman "Thug" Murray (May 8, 1898 – August, 1979) was an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

player and coach.

Naval Academy

Murray played on

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

teams which beat

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

twice. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote of Murray's play in the 1920 game, praising Murray for opening holes through which "a

wagon A wagon (or waggon) is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by Working animal#Draft animals, draft animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are i ...

could be driven." He was a member of

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon () is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on March 9, 1856.Baird, William Raimond, ed. (1905).Baird's Manual of American College Fratern ...

Sewanee

After a short stint with the Merchant Marines, Murray played for the

Sewanee Tigers The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee, United States. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an off ...

in 1921 and 1922. He wore number 10.

Billy Evans William George Evans (February 10, 1884 – January 23, 1956), nicknamed "the Boy Umpire", was an American umpire in Major League Baseball (MLB) who worked in the American League from 1906 to 1927. He became, at age 22, the youngest umpir ...

selected him All-Southern in 1922, placing him on his "Southern Honor Roll."

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American college football player and coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage a ...

gave Murray honorable mention on his All-America team. Murray was placed on Sewanee's "All-Time" football team.

Cumberland

He then went on to

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

to finish his law degree, as well as perform the function of football player, head football coach, and

athletics director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

. Murray was posthumously inducted into the Cumberland Sports Hall of Fame in 1981, and into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1983. He was the first posthumous inductee of the latter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Thug 1898 births 1979 deaths American football tackles Cumberland Phoenix football coaches Cumberland Phoenix football players Navy Midshipmen football players Sewanee Tigers football players All-Southern college football players Players of American football from Jackson, Tennessee Coaches of American football from Tennessee