NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame announced its upcoming 2021 class of inductees earlier this week and among them is former Arkansas Tech men's basketball standout Billy Joe Murray. Murray becomes the 24^th former individual with ATU ties to be inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
 
A native of Morrilton, Murray stayed close to home for his college playing days and played four years for the Wonder Boys from 1973-74 – 1976-77. In just his freshman season, Murray made a significant impact as he averaged 21.7 points per game – totaling a Wonder Boys' freshman record 608 points.
 
Murray would go on to average at least 20.0 points per game over his next two seasons and led the team in scoring each year. By the end of his career, Murray was a two-time All-AIC player and averaged 18.5 points per game over the course of 105 contests.
 
Falling just shy of 2,000 career points as a Wonder Boy, Murray is currently seventh on the all-time scoring list at Tech with 1,946 points to his name. Additionally, Murray ranks in the Top-10 in career lists for Field Goals Made (5^th), Field Goals Attempted (3^rd), Free Throws Made (5^th) and Free Throws Attempted (3^rd).
 
Since his playing days at Tucker, Murray has not ventured far from the court as he has been a decorated high school basketball coach. Most-recently the boys basketball coach at Earle High School, Murray has led the Earle Bulldogs to six Arkansas State Championships with all of them coming since 2008.
 
Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Inductees with Arkansas Tech Ties
Name (sport, year of induction)
John Tucker (football, 1962)
Wilson Matthews (football, 1971)
Raymond "Rabbit" Burnett (football, 1974)
Charles "Foot" Clement (football, 1975)
Eddie Meador (football, 1978)
Sam Hindsman (basketball, 1981)
Deward Dopson (basketball, 1982)
Aubrey "Cobb" Fowler (football, 1982)
Ragon Kinney (boxing, 1985)
W. Howard Pearce (football, 1986)
Raymond Peters (football, 1996)
Firman Bynum (football, 1998)
Bill Stancil (football, 1998)
Clyde Horton (track and field, 2000)
Joe Foley (basketball, 2002)
John Widner (basketball, 2003)
J.P. Lovelady (basketball, 2005)
E.C. O'Neal (basketball, 2006)
Kenny Saylors (basketball, 2009)
Bill "Sleepy" Curtis (football, 2011)
Wyn Norwood (golf, 2013)
Stephanie Strack Mathis (basketball, 2014)
1992 & 1993 ATU women's basketball teams (basketball, 2016)
Sherry Raney White (basketball, 2019)