A midfielder and forward who was one of the greatest stars of the U.S. national team in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Murray, especially noted for his wicked free kicks, was the all-time leader in both caps and goals for the United States before being overtaken in the mid-1990s by Marcelo Balboa in caps and Eric Wynalda in goals. Between his first national team appearance in 1985 and his last in 1993, he played 85 full international games, in which he scored 21 goals.
Murray played in all of the United States’ games in the 1990 World Cup, including the 10 qualifiers in 1988 and 1989 and the three games in the finals in Italy in 1990. He scored the United States’ goal against Austria in the World Cup finals. He also played in all of the United States’ games in its victorious effort in the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup, as well as playing for the United States in the 1988 Olympic Games, the 1992 Intercontinental Cup and the 1993 Copa America.
Murray, who won the Hermann Trophy as a senior at Clemson University in 1987, spent several seasons in the APSL with the Washington Stars and Maryland Bays, and had brief spells with first-division Luzerne in Switzerland and with Millwall in England.
Murray was the partial subject of one of the most iconic photographs in American soccer history, at the World Cup qualifier in Trinidad in 1989. The photo was taken as the Americans were trotting back up the field after Paul Caligiuri’s historic goal. It shows Murray with his arms upraised in exultation while Caligiuri, next to him, looks stunned by his achievement.
Inducted in 2011.
