His determination was an inspiration


Rick Murray, 66, battled Lou Gehrig's disease for nine years.




By Jessie-Lynne Kerr, The Times-Union


Richard "Rick" Scott Murray, a retired Navy commander and avid sportsman who became the Jacksonville face of Lou Gehrig's disease/ALS by his determination to do the best that he could with the strength he had left, died at his Mandarin home Wednesday evening. He was 66.



The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at All Saints Chapel at Jacksonville Naval Air Station. Among the speakers will be MaliVai Washington, the former professional tennis player who became a good friend. Burial will be at a later date in Arlington National Cemetery. The family will receive friends at their home from 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday and after the service Monday.

Cmdr. Murray acquired a cadre of fans - from sports figures to congressmen to average Joes - who admired the courage he showed over the nine years that he fought the disease he knew one day would take his life.



Those nine years tripled the prognosis of the life expectancy given to him by doctors. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a degenerative disease of the nerve cells that control muscular movement and is named for the baseball great whose career it cut short.

As late as three days before his death, Cmdr. Murray marshaled the strength in his rapidly weakening body to attend the Jacksonville Suns' Lou Gehrig/ALS Day game, an annual fundraiser he convinced the baseball team to start several years ago.

"I could tell Rick was in a lot of pain," said Suns President Peter D. Bragan Jr., who met Cmdr. Murray four or five years ago at a game. "He was not quite his usual smiling self, but he was determined to be there."

Cmdr. Murray this year published what he called Rick's Reflections, a collection of "inspirational thoughts, quotes and phrases for dealing with life's many challenges." The foreword was written by Washington, a 1996 Wimbledon finalist whose kids foundation Cmdr. Murray supported. The two met in 1997 when Cmdr. Murray participated in a 24-hour tennis marathon for Washington's foundation before the early stages of the disease set in.

On the cover is a photo of the author with Tom Coughlin, coach of the New York Giants and former coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The two men met seven years ago when both had children attending The Bolles School.

After learning of his friend's death this week, Coughlin said in a statement, "We all have our own Hall of Fame - people who have touched our lives deeply and inspired us to live our lives more fully, to appreciate the precious gifts we've been given. Rick Murray sits in the front row of my Hall of Fame."

Former Jacksonville Mayor Hans Tanzler, a neighbor of the Murrays for 10 years, said Cmdr. Murray was a great inspiration to him two years ago when Tanzler, who had been an athlete all his life, lost a leg to a blood clot.

"Every time I would begin to feel sorry for myself, I'd go see Rick because I was so impressed with his attitude and optimism. I took a lot of instruction from him," Tanzler said.

The former mayor went to visit and pray with him shortly before he died. "I sang The Old Rugged Cross to him and I could see his response in his eyes," Tanzler said. "He was one of the most incredible people I ever met."

A native of Philadelphia, Cmdr. Murray graduated from Colgate University in 1962 and entered the Navy later that year. After training as a Navy flight officer, he was assigned to Jacksonville Naval Air Station.

After other assignments, he completed his 25-year career at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987. The family moved back to Jacksonville in 1995.

Sherry Murray, his wife of 42 years, said friends made bumper stickers that read "Don't Quit, Rick Won't."

"He used this disease to help people," she said. "He wanted people to know you can live with it."

He traveled to Russia and Europe after his illness began, she said. "He said the only difference between an ordeal and an adventure is attitude."

His younger son, Mark Murray of Seattle, said he will remember his father's motto: "Persistence Wins Again."

"Regardless of what the doctors said about his prognosis," Mark Murray said, "Dad was determined to live life to the lees and live as long as he could."

He also is survived by a daughter, Allison Hastie of Orange Park; another son, Richard Scott Murray Jr. of Jacksonville; and five grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation, 2933 N. Myrtle Ave., Suite 101, Jacksonville, FL 32209; or the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund, P.O. Box 285, Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250.