Murray Armstrong Passes Away

[dggoddard]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

Mike Chambers Denver Post Blog has more Murray stories. An interesting quote from Air Force coach Frank Serratore that some of Murray's recruiting practices about verbal commitments are still honored to this day.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/sports/2...mstrong/14660/

[du78]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

Gwoz said in post-game tonight that the rest of the season will be dedicated to Murray.

[Old Pio]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

http://157.166.255.22/vault/article/...16/1/index.htm

SI story about '69 NC team but was really a story about Murray. Pointed out his business successes (Jet X) and some of his philosophy.

[dggoddard]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

Cool story! I remember reading some classic stories about Murray in conjunction with the DU hockey 60th Anniversary celebrations. One of my favorites was something about him having one of his players bring back a suitcase full of hats across the Canadian border, and running into some funny problems because of it. If anyone has access to that story (which I think was written by the player involved), it would be nice to see it posted on this thread.

The Hat Story
by former DU player Bob Peers

Murray liked to throw big words around.

“Well 'precipitous' is the one (new word) that always come out. Murray would say, “You have to check very precipitously.”

The guys would then be looking around and saying “Christ, we saw the names on the backs of the jerseys and he ain’t playing today.” (Laughs)

He did that and then he would tell us “you all have to expand yourselves.”

So he would have us do things like going through the dictionary and learn a (new) word a day, which is an old story. Murray was uneducated and didn’t have a formal education at all. He grew up in Regina and became a hockey player, but he tried to improve himself all the time. He was an immaculate dresser, always had the suit and a little Biltmore cap on. And there’s a good story about the hats.

It was my freshman year and I had made a campus visit. There were three recruits out of Winnipeg that were also supposed to come down, and two of those guys ended up going to North Dakota that following year. I went up to Winnipeg and was supposed to get on a train coming down to Denver. I showed up at the house of Brian Strimbiski and Bob Stoyko and they said, “We’re not going.”

So I said, “what do you mean your not going?”

Then they said, “Nope, we’re not going. We got a better offer from North Dakota for next year and we’re going to pass on Denver.”

Then I said, “Your loss.”

So anyway, Strimbiski had this box of hats. It was a cardboard box, and I asked him “what’s that?”

He said, “They’re Biltmore Stetsons.”

And at that time Biltmores were made in Guelph, Ontario and they had a junior hockey team that had won a couple of times and they were called the Guelph Biltmores. And Murray was a Western distributor in Canada for Biltmore hats. He was getting a bunch of these hats down to Denver to give to all of his cronies, friends and everything like that.

I inherited these hats and here I am a kid of 18 and didn’t know what the hell was going on. I get on this train going down to Denver thinking that I was going with two buddies and ended up going all by myself and a box of hats.

They used check customs and immigration right on the train. I’m sitting in the car and this guy comes by and asked me where I was going.

I handed him my student visa and then he asked “do you have any luggage?” and I said, “Yes, it’s back in the luggage compartment.”

Then he asked if I had anything to declare. Being naïve I said “no, but I’ve got a bunch of hats.”

He then asks “what kind of hats?” I said, “I don’t know. I’m taking them for the coach.”

So then he says, “Oh, lets go down and have a look at those.”

I said OK and we walked down to the baggage car there and he opens up the box.

Then he says “oh, they’re nice, expensive hats, but you can’t bring those in (to the US).”

I said to him “but they’re not mine!” Then he says to me “when you get into the Denver, this guy that you’re talking about, this Murray Armstrong is going to have to pay duty on them.”

I said, “fine, I don’t care.”

The train gets into Union Station in Denver and Murray’s waiting there.

Murray says to me “Bob, how was your trip down?” and I told him that it was great.

Then Murray asks, “Did you bring my hats?”

I said, “Yeah Murray, but I think there’s a problem.”

He said, “What do you mean?”

I said, “well, I got stopped and you’ve got some paperwork to do.”

He says, “Well, we’ll see about that!”

So Murray goes over to the clearinghouse area and everything. And Murray was quite loquacious. The next thing I know, this guy at the baggage claim was saying to Murray “yes sir, yes sir, I’m sorry sir” and then he just gave him the hats! (Laughs)

I don’t know what the heck Murray had said to him, but he got his hats. That was the first time that I knew this guy has something to offer. He’s obviously well known and articulate. He was able to finesse or whatever without being dishonest. He wasn’t dishonest, but I think he said that they were gifts. So by the code and everything, you can bring in gifts. He said, “I’m not reselling them or anything like that. I paid for them, so these are for my friends.”

"And I think that’s how he got around it. He’s quite a guy.”

[Old Pio]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

I think that was 1966, or at least that was when Clarkson played MSU. I quite vividly remember Clarkson beating RPI 16-1 (it was painful, believe me) at the end of the season and then get killed by MSU whom they beat during the season. Of course, even then, it was the EZAC.

Yeah,'66. You get the Rice-a-roni. DU had gotten to the FF by coming back against UND. Trailing 4-1 after two in the DU arena the Pios scored 3 in the 3rd and won it in OT. Another ironic twist of that go-ahead "no goal": Lenny Ciglarski was so pleased with the "save" he threw a stick on the ice! No replays in those days, sadly. And no clear favorite among the four clubs in the FF. As you indicated, there was a lot of play between the four during the regulaqr season. The NC game featured Amo Bessone's little boy, on the bench, taking a puck to the face. Lots of blood. But Amo never blinked when the boy was taken away. He had a game to coach. Besides, the MSU trainer could sew the wound up without his help.

[vizoroo]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

Cool story! I remember reading some classic stories about Murray in conjunction with the DU hockey 60th Anniversary celebrations. One of my favorites was something about him having one of his players bring back a suitcase full of hats across the Canadian border, and running into some funny problems because of it. If anyone has access to that story (which I think was written by the player involved), it would be nice to see it posted on this thread.

DU was so fortunate to have legendary coaches like Murray Armstrong and Willy Schaefler. I would like to see a nice ceremony honoring Murray at the next DU home game. And the one statue of Murray is not enough of a tribute. The "mural" on the wall of the south concourse is a nice addition, but more needs to be done to honor guys like Armstrong, Magnuson, Carle, etc. inside Magness. Broken record, I know. But it's about time.

Go to the LetsGoDU blog and check out the list for Armstrong. Aug. 2009 in an interview with Bob Peers he recounts the hat incident among many other memories of Murray. Nevermind, here's the hat story which is only a small part of the interview by D.J. Powers.

It was my freshman year and I had made a campus visit. There were three recruits out of Winnipeg that were also supposed to come down, and two of those guys ended up going to North Dakota that following year. So I went up to Winnipeg and was supposed to get on a train coming down to Denver. I showed up at the house of Brian Strimbiski and Bob Stoyko and they said, “We’re not going.” So I said, “what do you mean your not going?” Then they said, “Nope, we’re not going. We got a better offer from North Dakota for next year and we’re going to pass on Denver.” Then I said “your loss.” So anyway, Strimbiski had this box of hats. It was a cardboard box, and I asked him “what’s that?” He said “they’re Biltmore Stetsons.” And at that time Biltmores were made in Guelph, Ontario and they had a junior hockey team that had won a couple of times and they were called the Guelph Biltmores. And Murray was a Western distributor in Canada for Biltmore hats. So he was getting a bunch of these hats down to Denver to give to all of his cronies, friends and everything like that. So I inherited these hats and here I am a kid of 18 and didn’t know what the hell was going on. So I get on this train going down to Denver thinking that I was going with two buddies and ended up going all by myself. So they would check customs and immigration right on the train. So I’m sitting in the car and this guy comes by and asked me where I was going. I got out my student visa and then he asked “do you have any luggage?” and I said, “Yes, it’s back in the luggage compartment.” Then he asked if I had anything to declare. Being naïve I said “no, but I’ve got a bunch of hats.” He then asks “what kind of hats?” I said, “I don’t know. I’m taking them for the coach.” So then he says, “Oh, lets go down and have a look at those.” So I said ok and we walked down to the baggage car there and he opens up the box. Then he says “oh, they’re nice, expensive hats, but you can’t bring those in (to the US).” Then I said to him “but they’re not mine!” Then he says to me “when you get into the Denver, this guy that you’re talking about, this Murray Armstrong is going to have to pay duty on them.” So I said, “fine, I don’t care.” So the train gets into Union Station in Denver and Murray’s waiting there. So then Murray says to me “Bob, how was your trip down?” and I told him that it was great. Then Murray asks, “Did you bring my hats?” I said, “Yeah Murray, but I think there’s a problem.” He said, “What do you mean?” I said, “well, I got stopped and you’ve got some paperwork to do.” So then he says, “Well, we’ll see about that!” So Murray goes over to the clearinghouse area and everything. And Murray was quite loquacious. So the next thing I know, this guy at the baggage claim was saying to Murray “yes sir, yes sir, I’m sorry sir” and then he just gave him the hats! (Laughs) And I don’t know what the heck Murray had said to him, but he got his hats. So that was the first time that I knew this guy has something to offer. He’s obviously well known and articulate. He was able to finesse or whatever without being dishonest. He wasn’t dishonest, but I think he said that they were gifts. So by the code and everything, you can bring in gifts. He said, “I’m not reselling them or anything like that. I paid for them, so these are for my friends.” And I think that’s how he got around it. He’s quite a guy.”

I'm going back to read the rest.

[Puck Swami]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

I would like to see a nice ceremony honoring Murray at the next DU home game.

It's in the works. They have some time to work on it as well.

[Pablo]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

Murray's teams made the NCAA's 11 of the 21 years that he coached at DU and that was when only 4 teams were selected to the tourney. There were no NCAA regional tourneys back then.

One of my lasting memories of Murray occurred one day before practice in the old DU barn. It was in Murray's last year. I happened to be down by the locker room a few hours before practice and in walk Keith Magnuson and Bobby Orr. The Black Hawks were in town for a few days and Keith came looking for Murray. Bobby had nothing else to do and tagged along with Keith. Murray had not arrived at the rink yet so I spent 15 or so minutes talking with these two legends. I probably stammered my way through the conversation but they were gracious and cordial. Murray showed up and Keith and he started talking and I was "stuck" talking to Bobby for the next 45 minutes. I guess I finally relaxed and had a nice conversation with Bobby about hockey, beer, etc. He told me that he thought he drank the Coors brewery dry the previous night. One of the days I will never forget and you could see how the Chief loved to see a former player succeed in life like it was one of his kids.

Cool story! I remember reading some classic stories about Murray in conjunction with the DU hockey 60th Anniversary celebrations. One of my favorites was something about him having one of his players bring back a suitcase full of hats across the Canadian border, and running into some funny problems because of it. If anyone has access to that story (which I think was written by the player involved), it would be nice to see it posted on this thread.

DU was so fortunate to have legendary coaches like Murray Armstrong and Willy Schaefler. I would like to see a nice ceremony honoring Murray at the next DU home game. And the one statue of Murray is not enough of a tribute. The "mural" on the wall of the south concourse is a nice addition, but more needs to be done to honor guys like Armstrong, Magnuson, Carle, etc. inside Magness. Broken record, I know. But it's about time.

[du78]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

Murray's teams made the NCAA's 11 of the 21 years that he coached at DU and that was when only 4 teams were selected to the tourney. There were no NCAA regional tourneys back then.

One of my lasting memories of Murray occurred one day before practice in the old DU barn. It was in Murray's last year. I happened to be down by the locker room a few hours before practice and in walk Keith Magnuson and Bobby Orr. The Black Hawks were in town for a few days and Keith came looking for Murray. Bobby had nothing else to do and tagged along with Keith. Murray had not arrived at the rink yet so I spent 15 or so minutes talking with these two legends. I probably stammered my way through the conversation but they were gracious and cordial. Murray showed up and Keith and he started talking and I was "stuck" talking to Bobby for the next 45 minutes. I guess I finally relaxed and had a nice conversation with Bobby about hockey, beer, etc. He told me that he thought he drank the Coors brewery dry the previous night. One of the days I will never forget and you could see how the Chief loved to see a former player succeed in life like it was one of his kids.

[dggoddard]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

This excellent article that appears today in the St. Augustine Record was written in 2008. Some people never change.

http://staugustine.com/news/local-ne...s-make-excuses

[Ralph Baer]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

And we got hosed badly, as I've posted before, in a semi-final game against Clarkson in '67, when a wicked Cliff Koroll backhander that would have given us the lead midway through the 3rd was missed, even though the ref blew his whistle and the Clarkson kid in the box came out. That would have put us in the NC game against MSU, whom we'd beaten in the regular season. The DU photographer was in Williams Arena on a catwalk underneath the scoreboard and caught the goal. Sadly he wasn't using a Polaroid.

I think that was 1966, or at least that was when Clarkson played MSU. I quite vividly remember Clarkson beating RPI 16-1 (it was painful, believe me) at the end of the season and then get killed by MSU whom they beat during the season. Of course, even then, it was the EZAC.

[Old Pio]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

He most certainly did. He was interested in growing the sport and had no problem helping teams get their feet on the ground like UMD.

BTW, an interesting piece of trivia about Murray is what player took his spot on the Detroit Red Wings that ended his NHL career? None other then one Gordie Howe. Mark and Marty Howe were going to come to DU, but the WHA came calling and they turned professional to play with their dad for the Houston Aeros.

Anothe thing to note is that Murray's teams did win 5 NCAA titles but they also got 2nd an additional 4 times. Overall his teams played in 9 NCAA final games.

And we got hosed badly, as I've posted before, in a semi-final game against Clarkson in '67, when a wicked Cliff Koroll backhander that would have given us the lead midway through the 3rd was missed, even though the ref blew his whistle and the Clarkson kid in the box came out. That would have put us in the NC game against MSU, whom we'd beaten in the regular season. The DU photographer was in Williams Arena on a catwalk underneath the scoreboard and caught the goal. Sadly he wasn't using a Polaroid.

[du78]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

I think Murray helped recruit the first UMD team, as I recall.

He most certainly did. He was interested in growing the sport and had no problem helping teams get their feet on the ground like UMD.

BTW, an interesting piece of trivia about Murray is what player took his spot on the Detroit Red Wings that ended his NHL career? None other then one Gordie Howe. Mark and Marty Howe were going to come to DU, but the WHA came calling and they turned professional to play with their dad for the Houston Aeros.

Anothe thing to note is that Murray's teams did win 5 NCAA titles but they also got 2nd an additional 4 times. Overall his teams played in 9 NCAA final games.

[vizoroo]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

In case you didn't read Mike Chambers column, here are a few ofthe Maurrayisms. Follow this advice and become a better,more successful person.

"Well, there’s no future in being poor and looking poor, now is there?”

“There’s only one thing worse than not having connections, and that’s not using the connections you have.”

“I was always going to be the best at what I did. That’s why I don’t drink.

“Now is the time to cut your bad habits in half. If you normally drink six beers, cut it to three. If you smoke a pack of cigarettes, cut it in half. If you’re (with your girlfriend), just keep it to yourself. Nobody likes a bragger.”

“And boys … If you will give it everything you’ve got, win or lose, you’ll have no regrets. And when you’re shaving tomorrow morning and you look in the mirror, you’ll like the person you see.”

This year the Syracuse Crunch celebrated their 75th Anniversary. Murray was the last living member of the team that won Syracuse's only championship. An era has ended.

[Old Pio]

Re: Murray Armstrong Passes Away

We do?

What did he do?

On one of his famous recruiting tours of western Canada, he also recruited some players for tUMD.