Anonymous gift creates new scholarship in honor of longtime UNK baseball coach Guy Murray
Paying tribute to former baseball coach supports the baseball program with additional scholarship.
A new memorial scholarship provides support to baseball student-athletes at the University of Nebraska at Kearney while remembering the life of former baseball coach and UNK Athletic Hall of Fame Member, Guy Murray.
The Guy Murray Memorial Scholarship was established as a permanent endowment with a gift of $25,000 from an anonymous donor to the University of Nebraska Foundation.
“Through this generous gift, the UNK Athletic Department is able to provide our baseball program with ongoing additional scholarship support while also paying tribute to Coach Guy Murray for his significant contributions during his storied Loper career,” said Jon McBride, UNK athletic director.
Winning 614 games—the most in school history—Murray helped put then-Kearney State on the map as an NAIA powerhouse during the 1970s and 1980s.
Murray was named District Coach of the Year 11 times, and his teams won 10 district titles. The 1981 Kearney State team still holds many school records, including batting average (.343) and runs scored (554) in a season.
He was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and received the U.S. Baseball Federation Service Award. In 2007, he was inducted into the UNK Athletic Hall of Fame.
During his tenure at UNK, Murray also worked with the football team and taught in the health and physical education department. He died May 29, 2010, in Kearney.
Annual scholarships will be awarded from the new fund by the UNK athletic department. Recipients, who may study any college major, must be varsity baseball players at UNK and have a sophomore or above class standing. Recipients must also maintain a GPA of 2.5 or greater.
According to McBride, increasing the university’s available scholarship awards is especially important now as UNK joins the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Gifts to support the Guy Murray Memorial Scholarship or other scholarship funds may be made at nufoundation.org or by contacting Lucas Dart at the University of Nebraska Foundation at 308-698-5272.
The gift supports the University of Nebraska’s current fundraising initiative, the Campaign for Nebraska: Unlimited Possibilities, and its priority to increase support for student scholarships at UNK.
The University of Nebraska Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that has connected the dreams and passions of donors to the mission of the university for more than 75 years. In 2011, donors gave a record $172 million in gifts for scholarships, academic programs, medical research and other priorities at the university. The foundation’s current fundraising initiative, the Campaign for Nebraska: Unlimited Possibilities, concludes in 2014. For more information, visit campaignfornebraska.org.
