Last King of the Sports Page: The Life and Career of Jim Murray

Notes

233 Introduction 1. Jim Murray, “Looking at the Losers,” Los Angeles Times, August 25, 1961. 2. Jim Murray, “Please, No Flowers,” Los Angeles Times, August 24, 1961. 3. Jim Murray, “Thar She Blows!,” Los Angeles Times, January 31, 1962. 4. Jim Murray, “There Are Hardships,” Los Angeles Times, August 26, 1961. 5. “It Began in Cincinnati,” Dayton Journal Herald, February 13, 1974. 6. Linda McCoy-Murray, Quotable Jim Murray: The Literary Wit, Wisdom, and Wonder of a Distinguished American Sports Columnist, 20. 7. Ibid., 31. 8. Ibid., 50. 9. Ibid., 40. 10. Ibid., 25. 11. Jim Murray, “Living Color,” Los Angeles Times, November 29, 1961. 12. Jim Murray, Jim Murray: An Autobiography, 42. 13. Jim Murray, “Ride on a Tiger,” Los Angeles Times, March 12, 1961. Murray wrote those lines after only one month on the job. 14. Roy Firestone, interview with the author, December 15, 2009. 15. Frank Deford, interview with the author, January, 2008. Chapter 1 1. Murray, Jim Murray: An Autobiography, 1. 2. Matt Allen, interview with the author, February 12, 2009. The history of the Murray family in Tobbercurry was compiled by genealogical researchers at the behest of Allen. Allen , Jim Murray’s grandnephew, has traveled to the region several times and maintained a relationship with members of the Murray family still living in Ireland. 3. Jim Murray, “Only Irish Need Read,” Los Angeles Times, March 17, 1961. 4. Carl Wittke, The Irish in America, 8–9. 5. Ibid., 23–25. 6. Glenn Weaver, Hartford: An Illustrated History of Connecticut’s Capital, 80–81, 116. 7. Jim Murray, “Old School Is Fine, Thank You,” Los Angeles Times, August 31, 1995. 8. Much of this account comes from genealogical research done at the behest Matt Allen. The Hartford, Connecticut, City Directory lists a Hartford address for the Murrays in 1900 and 1910. By 1930, the directory lists them as living in West Hartford. 9. Gerald Suppicich, interview with the author, November 19, 2008. 234 Notes 10. US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States, Hartford, Connecticut, 1920, series T625, Roll 183, page 164. 11. Murray, Jim Murray: An Autobiography, 3. 12. Dr. Winkler Weinberg, interview with the author, February 2009. 13. US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States, Hartford, Connecticut, 1920, series T625, Roll 183, page 164. 14. Suppicich interview. 15. “Arrest Druggist as Delaney’s Aid: James P. Murray Stored Liquor and Sold Liquor, Police Assert,” Hartford Courant, January 13, 1922. 16. “Druggist Murray Sentenced to Jail,” Hartford Courant, January 29, 1922. James Murray gave notice of appeal and furnished bond of twelve hundred dollars at the time. The Courant did not report further on the case, so the question remains as to whether the appeal was heard and whether Murray served the sentence. James Murray would work for other pharmacists to earn a living for the rest of his life, in addition to other jobs. On his application for admission to Trinity College in 1939, Jim Murray listed his father’s occupation as factory worker. 17. Carol Hamel, interview with the author, January 29, 2008. 18. Marie Hewins, interview with the author, January 24, 2008. 19. Suppicich interview. 20. Murray, Jim Murray: An Autobiography, 3. 21. Jim Murray, Sporting World, 32–33. 22. Ibid., 34. 23. Murray, Jim Murray: An Autobiography, 7. 24. Jim Murray, “Uncle Ed Would Be a Proud Name Dropper,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 1990. Murray wrote this column on the occasion of the first running of the Jim Murray Handicap at Hollywood Park in Los Angeles. 25. Hewins interview. 26. Murray, Sporting World, 34. 27. Eric Sandburg, interview with the author, November 14, 2008; Murray, Jim Murray: An Autobiography, 2. 28. Suppicich interview. Suppicich said Jim’s mother traveled to visit Jim in California about four times between 1943, when Jim moved West, until 1968, when she died. 29. Sandburg interview. 30. Rose D’Ambrosia, interview with the author, February 2008. 31. Suppicich interview. 32. Linda McCoy-Murray, interview with the author, February 19, 2009. 33. Sandburg interview. 34. Jim Murray, “Tiger Not Tenzing,” Los Angeles Times, February 11, 1964. 35. Jim Murray, “Young Twice,” Los Angeles Times, March 7, 1965. 36. Murray, Jim Murray: An Autobiography, 3. 37. Weinberg interview. 38. Hamel interview. Jim’s grandparents died in 1934, and his aunt Peg, whose married name was Margaret Foley, assumed the role of primary caretaker for Jim. 39. Murray, Jim Murray: An Autobiography, 3. 40. D...