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This award also had a great deal of personal significance. I have grown up reading Jim Murray and he is one of my idols. When my dad was a college senior -- just one year older than I am now! -- he wrote Jim Murray a letter asking for advice about being a sportswriter. Jim wrote back, a thoughtful, page-long, handwritten letter. One of the things he wrote in that letter I now have taped above my writing desk:
"If you are meant to be a writer, you will be. Nothing can stop a writer from writing. Not even Hitler could do that."
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I feel so lucky to now be a part of the Murray Scholar Family! I also have tremendous gratitude to Linda McCoy-Murray, Jim's widow, who is one of the most remarkable human beings I have ever met. She is so energetic, passionate, and kind -- along with keeping Jim Murray's legacy alive, she has raised nearly half a million dollars for these college scholarships. She is a human dynamo with a heart bigger than Kobe Bryant's ego!
Pictures:
Top: Here is a picture of me with Jim Murray's legendary typewriter. (You have to press down on the keys very forcefully -- so different from touch-typing on computers these days!)
Middle: Here I am with Luc Robitaille, former LA Kings player who was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame. He is such a genuinely nice person!
Bottom: With my idol Linda McCoy-Murray.