The man on the other end of the phone sounds robust, and so, too, does his list of activities so far that day. A hearty breakfast and 18 holes of golf, and it isn’t even noon yet.
That is the usual routine for 92-year-old Murray Armstrong.
The legendary former hockey coach at the University of Denver is still shooting right around his age on the golf courses near his home in St. Augustine, Fla. Playing with him at least one day a week is his wife of 66 years, Freda.
“She’s 94 and still plays a good game,” Armstrong says. “I don’t see as well as I used to, so she’ll tell me where the ball is sometimes or how far the green is.”
Armstrong, born on New Year’s Day in 1916, won national championships as the Pioneers’ coach in 1958, 1960, 1961, 1968 and 1969. His initial salary at DU in 1956 was $7,000.
“That was a lot of money back then!” Armstrong said. “It wasn’t what I was making coaching in Regina (with the Regina, Saskatchewan, Pats) and playing (for eight years) in the NHL, but I thought it would be a tremendous opportunity to coach at Denver, and I’m glad I did.”
So are the many players he coached until stepping down from the Pioneers bench in 1977.
“I still hear from many of them. They usually call me on my birthday,” Armstrong said. “I have many fond memories of the boys that played for me.”
Nicknamed “The Chief” and known for wearing his trademark fedora on the bench, Armstrong compiled a 463-215-31 (.675) record. His 1960-61 team went 30-1-1. A statue of him stands at the Ritchie Center.
When Armstrong is asked why he was such a good coach, he defers to his players, but says: “I think one of the reasons is I was a good recruiter. When I’d check on a player and go to (his) teacher or coach and they’d say, ‘He’s a good student and a good player, but’ . . . the minute they’d say ‘but,’ I lost interest. In the 21 years that I was at the University of Denver, I never once had to go to the police for anything that my players had done. That has pleased the daylights out of me.”
Armstrong hasn’t been to Denver in many years, but he still watches the Pioneers on television. Otherwise, he is too busy trying to get his handicap down and enjoying the Florida air.
“I don’t sit around thinking about the past or looking at scrapbooks all day,” he said. “There is too much else for me to do.”
Murray Armstrong bio
Born: Jan. 1, 1916, Manor, Saskatchewan
Family: Wife Freda, son Rob
Hobbies: Golf, crosswords
Ambition: To keep shooting my age on the golf course.
