A young man showed up in the office with his family to register for school at Murphy Middle School several years ago. He ended up in the counselor’s office and expressed an interest in playing basketball.
The counselor had some experience in spotting athletic talent, after being married to a football coach for more than 20 years. She told the young man it was great that he liked basketball, but had he thought about playing football? He eagerly responded that he had, so she signed him up.
That counselor was Kelly Gentry, wife of now retired Murphy football head coach David Gentry, and that young man was Devonte Murray. On May 11, 2024, Murray became the first one in his family to earn a four-year college degree, as he graduated from Brevard College with a bachelor’s of science in criminal justice.
Murray grew up in Peachtree, where he began playing football for the first time in the eighth grade on the Murphy junior varsity team. It was evident that he had the physical tools to be good, and over the years he had some special moments as a Bulldog – like the Swain County game on Oct. 19, 2018, when Murray scored a two-point conversion with only 1:10 left to give Gentry his 413th win and the record for the most wins by any coach in state history.
Murray was always humble with his successes. In an interview after that game, he said, “I have a great line, and I knew they were going to get me that one yard and those two points.”
During his senior season, Murray averaged 152 yards rushing a game and scored 25 touchdowns. However, this story isn’t about his football stats, it’s about the determination to take his talents and use them to earn a college education.
While he was coming through Murphy High School, I gave Murray several rides home, as he and my youngest son were close friends. During that time, I got to know him well, and he was one of the politest young men you would ever meet.
We always joked with him that he was a bottomless pit. After an away game, the home teams fed the boys barbecue. We stopped at McDonald’s on the way home and he got two Big Macs, large fries and a large drink. Then he and my son proceed to talk the McDonald’s manager out of two free cookies. If we were cooking at our house and had more than we needed, we would always joke about giving Murray a call.
With all that being said, he was just one of those kids you wanted to succeed, and he had to work hard to accomplish what he did Saturday, when Murray walked across the stage to receive his college degree.
“Right now, I’m living in Charlotte with my fiancée,” he said last week. “We are taking a cruise in June, and when I get back I plan to look at applying for a job with the prisons and parole division in the state of North Carolina. I had an internship with their office in Hendersonville while I was getting my degree.”
If this young man sets his sights on something he usually gets it, so don’t be surprised if the state has a new parole officer come the end of June.
J.R. Carroll is a staff correspondent for the Cherokee Scout. Email him at jcarroll8760@icloud.com.