When slotback Andrew Murray came over from the B.C. Lions to the Argonauts in 1990, he was excited at the opportunity, but little did he know he was about to become a part of the most productive offence ever assembled in the history of the CFL. 7498 yards of total offence, 689 total points, scores such as 70-18, 68-43, 60-39 and 59-15 in the Argos favour: nothing like it had ever been seen before. "I don't think we ran up the score that much either, to tell you the truth," said Murray, who did his part by catching 37 passes for 629 yards, both career highs. "Statistically, that was the best year, no question."
However, from a team standpoint, the 1990 Argos had a problem; they could whip most any team in the league, but they couldn't beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. They lost to the eventual Grey Cup champs three times during the regular season, and again in the Eastern final. In the end, the stats looked nice, but they didn't mean a thing.
That all changed in 1991, when a team that already had the likes of Matt Dunigan, Rickey Foggie, "Pinball" Clemons and Darrell K. Smith also added "Rocket" Ismail and a group of Hollywood owners, and proceeded to destroy the Bombers 42-3 in the Eastern final before more than 50,000 fans at the SkyDome. They subsequently won the Grey Cup in Winnipeg the week after before a similar size crowd.
"Playing in front of that many people was a definite highlight," said Murray, who was also an anchor on the special teams throughout his days as an Argo, as well as being one of the club's leading ambassadors away from the field. Good-naturedly nicknamed "Cracker" by Foggie, the Ottawa native and Carleton University product was a typical homebrew Canadian player: hard-working, dedicated, humble and playing for the love of the game.
"It's definitely not a way to get rich, but I wouldn't change it for the world," said Murray. "The team, all the friends you meet, the people you get to know; it's the biggest thing you take away from a professional sports career."
Murray ended his career with his hometown Rough Riders in 1994, and after an attempt at co-owning a bar in the nation's capital turned out to be less than successful, he returned to the Toronto area, where he has worked at Prudential Insurance for the past 15 months. Murray now makes his residence in Oakville, about two minutes away from former teammate Dan Ferrone ("the Mayor of Oakville said I could move in"), and he and his wife Julie are expecting their first child in mid-July.
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