Cavalier Corner

behind the scenes RICH MURRAY ment, Rich Murray — who personi- fies the quintessential gentleman — retired on June 22. Mr. Murray, as he was known to is never pretentious or caught uttering an unkind word; treats everyone with respect regardless of station, tenure or rank; and is someone you tell your children to emulate. After 29 years serving in the UVa media relations depart- Everyone knows one: the quintessential gentleman. He many of his league counterparts. Murray could be con- sidered a pioneer in his field realizing that new mediums of coverage would only serve to expand the message of Virginia athletics. Today, every athletic department and every newspaper has a website. Jerry Ratcliffe, the dean of UVa sportswriters who has covered the Cavaliers throughout all of Murray's 29 years at Virginia, speaks highly of the media relations guru. "He is one of my all-time favorite guys during my career," Ratcliffe said. many, also personifies a level of pro- fessionalism that athletics director Craig Littlepage — who worked with Murray as an assistant men's basket- ball coach and most recently as his boss in the athletic department — said is reserved for a select few at the university. "If you look at the various stake- "Not only has he been an associate for nearly three decades, but some- one I consider a true friend. "Those of us who have known Rich all these years always get a kick when we ask him how he's doing and he al- ways answers, 'Much better now that I am in such distinguished company. holders at the institution [student- athletes, coaches, staff, alumni, fac- ulty and administration] and a host of media outlets, few are held in as high regard as Rich Murray has been, I'm going to miss hearing that line at athletic events in the future. I'm going to miss all the great traits that Rich always exhibited as a terrific SID and a terrific person. Littlepage said. I met Murray in the fall of 1999 " Murray retired on June 22 after 29 years of service to Virginia's media relations department. PHOTO COURTESY UVA when this neophyte began hosting a weekly UVa sports radio program in Richmond, Va. Although I had no formal training as a journalist or a broadcaster, Virginia's SID af- forded me the same respect and attention he displayed for every other member of the media. Whether you had covered the Hoos for 20 years or 20 days, Murray treated you as vital part of UVa media. A man many might classify as traditional in his values, known Rich for most of my 20 years as a newspaper re- porter, but I got to know him much better once I started at Virginia. "I discovered that Rich was not only the consummate his approach to his job and the people he worked with, Murray was quicker than others in the ACC to recognize the emergence of the "new media" — the Internet — and credentialed non-affiliated sports websites sooner than Our best to Rich and his wife, Sara. You will be missed. — Greg Waters " dual perspective on the longtime SID. "For me, one of the joys of coming to work at UVa was being able to call Rich a colleague," White said. "I had work with Murray in the capacity of a journalist covering Virginia sports and as a co-worker since 2009 with VirginiaSports.com, Jeff White has a Having had the opportunity to " ' professional, with an unsurpassed work ethic, but a de- voted father and husband and a loyal friend. It was truly a privilege to work with Mr. Murray. CAVALIER CORNER ◆ AUGUST 2012 ◆ 20

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