Jim Murray (born 1938 or 1939) is the co-founder of the

Ronald McDonald House Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is an independent American nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children. RMHC has a global network of c ...

and a former

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. A native of West Philadelphia, he is also president of Jim Murray Ltd, a sports promotion and marketing firm.

Early life and education

Murray was born into an Irish Catholic family. He was raised in a rowhouse in West Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Murray attended Our Mother of Sorrows Parish grade school and

West Philadelphia Catholic High School West Catholic Preparatory High School is a co-educational Catholic high school in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at 45th and Chestnut Streets, the University City neighborhood of West Philadelphia. ...

. He and his brother Francis W. "Fran" Murray were athletic. He graduated from

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

in 1960.

Career

He began his career in sports administration with the

Tidewater Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesapea ...

of baseball's

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

. After a tour of active duty with the Marine Corps

Reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

, he returned to baseball as assistant general manager of the Atlanta Crackers, an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1964, he left baseball to enter the restaurant business. He returned om 1966 to his alma mater,

, as its sports information director. In 1969, he joined the professional football team

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

staff and became the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

team's administrative assistant two years later. In 1974, five years after joining the organization, Murray was named

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

for the team. For more than nine years, Murray served as general manager which included significant improvement in the team, as evidenced by its appearances in playoff games and a

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

. In 1976, he and owner

Leonard Tose Leonard Hyman Tose (March 6, 1915 – April 15, 2003) was an owner of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1969 to 1985. He made a fortune in the trucking industry and was known for his lavish lifestyle. He eventually lost his fortune because of a gamblin ...

hired

Dick Vermeil Richard Albert Vermeil (; born October 30, 1936) is a former American football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for seven seasons, the St. Lou ...

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

. Murray was fired after the 1982 season and succeeded by Tose's daughter, Susan Tose Fletcher.

Film and television

Murray's company has produced the local television show ''Eagles Cheers''. He appears in interviews on numerous NFL Films Productions about the Philadelphia Eagles. Murray's nephew T. Patrick Murray (son of his brother Fran) is a filmmaker who produced ''

The Last Game ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

'', a football

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Charity work

During his 14 years with the Eagles, Murray assumed leadership roles in a number of community projects. He helped start the successfu
Eagles Fly for Leukemia
campaign and co-founded with Dr.

Audrey Evans Audrey Elizabeth Evans (6 March 1925 – 29 September 2022) was a British-born American pediatric oncologist who was known as the "Mother of Neuroblastoma". Evans worked at several hospitals before settling at the Children's Hospital of Philade ...

the first

, located in Philadelphia. Murray persuaded many of his peers in the NFL to become involved in the unique Ronald McDonald House concept.

Awards

Murray has received numerous honors and awards, including: *

Award (2002), first awardee *

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's state ...

's Citizen of the Year Award (1999) *

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

Distinguished Service Award (1992) * Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame Philadelphia City All-Star Chapter (inducted 1992) * President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

's Medal for Volunteers of America (1987) * Bakers Club of Philadelphia's Bert Bell Man of the Year Award (1983) * Catholic Leadership Institute's Award for Outstanding Catholic Leadership (2005)

Personal life

Murray and his wife, Dianne, reside in

Rosemont, Pennsylvania Rosemont is a neighborhood in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States, on the Philadelphia Main Line. It is located in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County. It is best known as the home of Rosemont College. Ros ...

. They have five children and five grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Jim Sportspeople from Philadelphia American people of Irish descent American Roman Catholics Philadelphia Eagles executives National Football League general managers Villanova Wildcats football Living people 1930s births United States Marines Villanova University alumni United States Marine Corps reservists