{{Short description|Canadian Catholic priest and educator}} {{about|the Canadian priest and educator|the cricketer|Athol Murray (cricketer)|the historian and archivist|Athol Murray (historian)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Use Canadian English|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = [[The Reverend]] [[Monsignor]] | name = Athol Murray | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|size=100%}} | image = Father Athol Murray portrait circa 1930.jpg | alt = Black and white photo of man wearing a black robe and white priest's collar | birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|01|09|mf=y}} | birth_place = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|1975|12|15|1892|01|09|mf=y}} | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = | awards = {{plainlist| * [[Order of Canada]] (1968) * [[Canada's Sports Hall of Fame]] (1972) * [[Hockey Hall of Fame]] (1998) }} | module = {{Infobox clergy |child=yes | religion = Christianity | church = [[Roman Catholic Church]] | ordained = 1918 | writings = | congregations = St. Augustine's Parish, [[Wilcox, Saskatchewan|Wilcox]] | offices_held = }}
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'''James Athol Murray''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC}} (January 9, 1892{{spnd}}December 15, 1975) was a Canadian Catholic priest and educator. He built a collection of shacks in Wilcox, 55 km south of Regina into a non-denominational residential college. It began as a convent school founded by the sisters of Charity in 1920.
==Biography== [[File:St Augustine's Seminary.jpg|thumb|St Augustine Seminary, Scarborough, Toronto]] James Athol Murray was born on January 9, 1892, in [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada, the son of James Peter and Nanno Hayes Murray. He was educated at [[Loyola College (Montreal)|Loyola College]], [[St. Michael's College School]], St. Hyacinthe College, and [[Université Laval]]. He clerked for a time in a law firm before entering St. Augustine Seminary in Toronto and was ordained in 1918. He was sent to [[Regina, Saskatchewan|Regina]], where in 1923 he started the Regina Argos Club, an athletic club for boys. In 1927 Murray was assigned to St. Augustine's parish in Wilcox, Saskatchewan.<ref name=legends>[https://www.hhof.com/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?mem=b199801&type=Builder&page=bio&list=ByName "Monsignor Athol Murray", Hockey Hall of Fame]</ref>
Murray brought fifteen boys from Regina to Wilcox where they were enrolled in residential Notre Dame School, run by the [[Sisters of Charity of St. Louis]]. He began the high school program known as Notre Dame of the Prairies College. Murray was the inspirational force behind the famous [[Notre Dame Hounds]] hockey team. Known as ''Père'', he would never refuse a deserving student an education - even if that meant tuition was paid in potatoes and wheat rather than dollars and cents.<ref name=legends/> Leading the college until his death, he influenced generations of Canadians and the development of Canadian hockey. Said Père Murray, "I love God, Canada and hockey -- not always in that order."<ref name=heritage>{{Cite web |url=http://torontoplaques.com/Pages/Monsignor_Athol_Murray.html |title="Monsignor (Père) Athol Murray 1892-1975", Heritage Toronto |access-date=2019-08-19 |archive-date=2019-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819180908/http://torontoplaques.com/Pages/Monsignor_Athol_Murray.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The [[ice hockey]] team is known as the Notre Dame Hounds. More than 100 former Hounds have been drafted by [[National Hockey League]] including [[Wendel Clark]], [[Curtis Joseph]], [[Rod Brind'Amour]], [[Brad Richards]] and [[Vincent Lecavalier]].<ref name=legends/> The [[Hockey Saskatchewan]]'s [[Athol Murray Trophy]] is named in his honour.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.keystonecup.ca/leagues/custom_page.cfm?clientid=3233&leagueid=24662&pageid=14212|title=Keystone Cup|year=2024|website=Keystone Cup|location=Thunder Bay, Ontario|access-date=February 20, 2024}}</ref>
Murray played a central role in the 1962 strike by Saskatchewan doctors opposing socialized medicine and inciting violence at anti-Medicare rallys on radio broadcasts, proclaiming “This thing may break into violence and bloodshed any day now, and God help us if it doesn’t.”.<ref>[https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/the-birth-of-medicare Brown, Lorne and Taylor, Doug. "The Birth of Medicare", ''Canadian Dimension'', Volume 46, Issue 4: July/August 2012]</ref>
Murray was named a monsignor in 1968. He died on December 15, 1975, at the age of eighty-three.<ref name=scaa>[http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/athol-murray-fonds "Athol Murray Fonds", Saskatchewan Council for Archives and Archivists]</ref>
==Honours== * In 1968, he was made an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]].<ref name=scaa/> * In 1972, he was inducted as a hockey builder into the [[Canada's Sports Hall of Fame]].<ref name=scaa/> * In 1998, he was posthumously inducted into the [[Hockey Hall of Fame]].<ref name=heritage/> * A historic plaque was installed at his family's Toronto home from 1905 to 1921; 445 Euclid Avenue.<ref name=heritage/> * [[Athol Murray College of Notre Dame]] in [[Wilcox, Saskatchewan]], is named in his honour.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.notredame.ca/about/who-we-are/notre-dame-history|title=Notre Dame History|website=Athol Murray College of Notre Dame|location=Wilcox, Saskatchewan|access-date=February 20, 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{icehockeystats|legendsm=B199801}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20180412134505/http://www.sportshall.ca/stories.html?proID=3&catID=all&lang=EN Monsignor Athol Murray] at [[Canada's Sports Hall of Fame]]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Athol}} [[Category:1892 births]] [[Category:1975 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests]] [[Category:Hockey Hall of Fame inductees]] [[Category:Loyola College (Montreal) alumni]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]