Gregory Wendell McMurtry (born October 15, 1967) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player. He played college football as a wide receiver for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1986 to 1989. He caught 111 passes for 2,163 yards and 15 touchdowns for Michigan. He also played professional football as a wide receiver in the

National Football League 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 ...

(NFL) for the New England Patriots from 1990 to 1993 and for the Chicago Bears in 1994. He caught 128 passes for 1,631 yards in 67 NFL games.

Early years

McMurtry was born in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, along with Raymond. The city had a population of 153,701 at t ...

, in 1967. He attended

Brockton High School Brockton High School, established in 1870, is a high school located in Brockton, Massachusetts. It is a part of Brockton Public Schools. As of 2016 Brockton High School, with 4,029 students, is one of the largest high schools in the United States ...

Brockton, Massachusetts Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population is 105,643 as of the 2020 United States Census. Along with Plymouth, it is one of the two county seats of Plymouth County. It is the sixth-largest city in Mas ...

. McMurtry was an outstanding baseball and football player at Brockton High School. He was selected by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

in the first round (14th overall pick) of the 1986 Major League Baseball Draft, but turned down a six-figure signing bonus to attend the

on a football scholarship.

University of Michigan

McMurtry enrolled at the

in 1986 and played college football for head coach Bo Schembechler's Michigan Wolverines football teams from 1986 to 1989. He started five games at flanker in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

(22 catches for 508 yards), 12 games at split end in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

(21 catches for 474 yards and five touchdowns), 10 games at split end in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

(27 catches for 470 yards and three touchdowns), and 12 games at split end in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

(41 catches for 711 yards and seven touchdowns). He played on three

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championship teams and appeared in three Rose Bowl Games. He had his best game on November 18, 1989, with seven catches for 189 yards and three touchdowns against

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. In four years at Michigan, he caught 111 passes for 2,163 yards and 15 touchdowns.(to retrieve McMurtry's statistics, enter "mcmurtry" in the box for the player's last name)

Professional football

McMurtry was selected by the Patriots in the third round (80th overall pick) of the

1990 NFL Draft The 1990 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1990, at the Marriott Mar ...

. As a rookie during the

1990 NFL season The 1990 NFL season was the 71st regular season of the National Football League. To increase revenue, the league, for the first time since , reinstated bye weeks, so that all NFL teams would play their 16-game schedule over a 17-week period. ...

, McMurtry appeared in 13 games, five as a starter, and caught 22 passes for 240 yards. The following year, he enjoyed his best season in the NFL, catching 41 passes for 614 yards and two touchdowns. In Week 4 of the

1991 NFL season The 1991 NFL season was the 72nd regular season of the National Football League. It was the final season for coach Chuck Noll. The season ended with Super Bowl XXVI when the Washington Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills, 37–24, at the Metr ...

, he caught a game-winning touchdown pass from New England quarterback

Hugh Millen Hugh Breedlove Millen (born November 22, 1963) is a former professional football quarterback in the National Football League for the Los Angeles Rams, Atlanta Falcons, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos. He played college foo ...

in the final minute against the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

. In June 1992, the Patriots re-signed McMurtry. During the

1992 NFL season The 1992 NFL season was the 73rd regular season of the National Football League. Due to the damage caused by Hurricane Andrew, the New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins game that was scheduled for September 6 at Joe Robbie Stadium was res ...

, McMurtry appeared in all 16 games for the Patriots, 15 as a starter, and caught 35 passes for 424 yards and one touchdown. In 1993, McMurtry's final season with the Patriots, he appeared in 14 games, eight as a starter, and caught 22 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown. McMurtry signed with the Los Angeles Rams in 1994 but was released prior to the start of the regular season. He was signed by the Chicago Bears in August 1994. McMurtry appeared in nine games for the Bears, four as a starter, during the 1994 NFL season. He caught eight passes for 112 yards and one touchdown. During his five-year NFL career, McMurtry had 128 receptions for 1,631 yards and five touchdowns.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMurtry, Greg American football wide receivers New England Patriots players Chicago Bears players 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Brockton, Massachusetts Players of American football from Plymouth County, Massachusetts Michigan Wolverines football players Players of American football from Jackson, Mississippi Brockton High School alumni

Early years

University of Michigan

Professional football

See also

References