Coach Ken named to Ontario hoops hall
Ken Murray is now just one honour short of a hall of fame six pack.
The decorated former player and the long-time coach of the Brock men’s basketball program will be inducted into the Ontario Basketball Hall of Fame Feb. 11 in Toronto and honoured at half-time of the Toronto Raptors game that same day against the Brooklyn Nets.
Previously, the 66-year-old native of Buffalo, N.Y., was inducted into the Brock Athletics, Brock Basketball, St. Catharines Sports and the Ontario University Athletics West Officials Basketball halls of fame.
“Any time you receive something like this, you are in shock because you never expect it at all,” he said.
Being honoured by Basketball Ontario makes the award even more special.
“When it comes from a provincial sports body, especially from a province the size of Ontario, it gives it even more meaning because of the amount people they have to choose from.”
Nominations for the Ontario basketball hall had to be accompanied by letters of support and Murray’s nomination included 13 such letters.
“When you start to hear the things people have said about you, it makes you feel pretty good with what you accomplished,” he said. “I feel honoured with regards to that.”
Murray’s first response upon hearing of the award was fitting considering his recent circumstances.
“I thought it was nice to get it before you are dead because that happens to too many people.”
His brush with mortality came in August following a routine colonoscopy.
“After having it, the doctor said he wanted to talk to me and I knew that wasn’t good.”
Doctors said the medical test had found the top of a tumour that they believed was cancerous and Murray had a seven-hour surgery in September and then another surgery. An extensive follow-up pathology report checked 66 lymph nodes and only one had the presence of a cancer cell. That cell found was dead.
“Now it’s just trying to get my energy back and stuff,” Murray said.
It has given him a whole new perspective on his personal health.
“It’s time for a lifestyle change,” he said. “Before, I used to think that I could do whatever I want, but you can’t do whatever you want. You have to watch what you eat and drink.”
He hasn’t had any alcohol or carbonated beverages since September and hasn’t missed them. Another silver lining to the injury is that he now weighs 215 pounds, his former playing weight for basketball.
“I am ready to play again,” he said, with a smile.
The 6-foot-7 athlete had an extremely successful playing career before becoming a coach. In a five-year career with Brock from 1972 to 1977, he was a five-time team MVP, a four-time conference all-star and Brock’s male athlete of the year in 1975. When he graduated, his 1,209 points were first in Ontario university career scoring and his 659 rebounds ranked him second.
And while his player credentials are hall worthy, it’s his exploits as a coach that propelled him into the Ontario hall.
His coaching resumes includes: guiding Brock to national championships in 1992 and 2008; two-time Canadian University Sport coach of the year; four-time OUA West coach of the year; five appearances in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Final 8 tournament; and, a school record 521 victories at Brock.
It is a career full of highlights, but the 2008 championship is probably his favourite moment because he shared it with his son Scott Murray, a guard on the team, and local players Brad Rootes, Dusty Bianchin, Mike Kemp and Rohan Steen. The five were all key pieces of the team.
“The first championship was great because they were a great group of guys, but I knew those (2008) guys as young kids and I watched them grow up,” the two-time St. Catharines Sportsperson of the Year said.
He described the group as different.
“They defied some of the laws,” Murray said. “They had fun, they goofed around, but when you asked them to focus, they focused.”
The biggest memory of the 2008 national championship weekend in Ottawa was his players never getting over-confident.
“They were all business the whole tournament and I marvelled at that,” he said. “There was no rah rah. They were there to do a job and they did a job.
“The 1992 team was similar to that too. There were no celebrations until the final.”
What has really stood the test of time about his two national championships at Brock is how hard it is to win them.
“Ask any of the coaches that right now unless your name is Dave Smart,” said the former commentator with TSN and The Score television networks. “It’s very, very hard.”
Murray agrees the key to winning at Brock was having talented local players that stayed at home to be part of a championship.
“You need that as your building block and it even helps with building your fan base,” he said. “People need to be able to relate to the team and both my championships had a deep system in regard to the local area.”
On the 1992 team, local starters were Brian Bleich, Dave Picton and Allan MacDougall while locals Pat Sullivan and Mike Pullar were the first two players off the bench. Other Niagara athletes included Joe Dekker and Jamie Huebert.
“We had the pieces where we needed them and the same thing in 2008,” Murray said. “Our key pieces were local.”
Other Niagara athletes on the 2008 championship squad were Governor Simcoe alumnus Andrew Ferguson and Jay Fleming.
Murray describes his coaching philosophy as being adaptable.
“I always tried to build my offence around my team rather than building my team around my offence,” he said. “I tried to find an offence that would suit the abilities of my players and the same thing from a defensive perspective.”
The 2008 squad was guard-oriented so Murray’s offence involved a lot of dribble penetration and kicking the ball back to the shooters.
“In 1992 , it was pound the ball inside,” he said. “We had Bleich and (Gord) Wood inside and if they couldn’t do anything we would pop it outside to Picton and MacDougall. And then we had (Rob) DeMott running over top of people to get to the basket.”
Now retired, Murray jokingly says he does as little as possible. In the summer, he plays a lot of golf at his cottage at Pike Lake.
“I am still a basketball fan and I still yell at the TV,” he said. “I yelled at the TV last night during the Raptors game.”
He is also a grandfather of one with another on the way.
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