WHERE ARE THEY NOW: SUNA MURRAY
Two-time U.S. Ladies Bronze Medalist Suna Murray recalls several favorite moments from her skating career.
"The first was during Nationals (1971) in Buffalo (which was the first time I placed 3rd). I was 15 years old and received a standing ovation. It was a pretty packed house so it was really exciting. My second memorable skating moment was when I fell over the curtain at Madison Square Garden during "Champions on Ice." I didn't get hurt but the crowd took a huge gasp. I was on Blooper shows for years as well a promotional video for Drakar cologne. Of course, back then you didn't get paid for any of those things. Another favorite moment was walking in the opening ceremonies during the 1972 Olympics. Not really a skating moment but definitely skating related. Those Olympics were during the Vietnam War and there were riots at home. Patriotism was not high on the media list. I remember walking around the Olympic Stadium watching all the American flags being flown and being really proud to be an American."
Suna finished 12th at those Games in Japan, and 8th at the subsequent World Championship in Calgary, Canada.
"I retired fairly soon after the 1972 season to attend college. My skating career was over when I was 16 so now that I am 50 it doesn't seem like my competitive career took up very much of my life. I was planning to continue skating when I was a Harvard but there were so many other exciting and different things going on in my life that I never made it over to The Skating Club of Boston to practice. I never skated professionally as there wasn't that much going on back then and I really loved my years at Harvard and wouldn't have given that up to skate in an ice show.
"I graduated from Harvard in 1978. I took some time off in 1976 when my father had a stroke. After that I worked at The First National Bank of Boston for 3 years. During that time I was on the Athletes Advisory Committee to the USOC and went to the 1980 Olympics as an Athletes Representative for the USOC. During that time I realized how much I missed skating and I started to coach part-time as I was still working at the bank. I started teaching full time in 1982.
"I married Langham Gleason, MD in 1987. I have two children with Langham. Hadley is 18 years old and a freshman in college and Kylie is 16, skates at the Skating Club of Boston and is coached by Mark Mitchell and Peter Johannson.
"We moved to Sewickley, PA in 1994 as an academic neurosurgery position opened up for Langham at Allegheny General Hospital. At this point my life gets more complicated. Langham and I divorced in 1998. I remarried Calvin Augustin in 1999. My older daughter, Hadley, started at Phillips Exeter Academy in 2002. My younger daughter, Kylie, started to be a pretty good skater and I decided that I didn't want to coach her myself anymore. She was National Juvenile and Intermediate Pair champion a few years ago. Last year she won New England Junior Ladies (ed. Note: Kylie just placed 2nd in Senior Ladies at the 2007 New England Regional Championships). My husband works for US Airways so since we fly free, for the past three years I have been flying to PA on Sunday nights and coming back to Boston on Tuesday morning. I coach in Boston Tuesday through Sunday and Pittsburgh on Monday. Crazy life!!!"
"The first was during Nationals (1971) in Buffalo (which was the first time I placed 3rd). I was 15 years old and received a standing ovation. It was a pretty packed house so it was really exciting. My second memorable skating moment was when I fell over the curtain at Madison Square Garden during "Champions on Ice." I didn't get hurt but the crowd took a huge gasp. I was on Blooper shows for years as well a promotional video for Drakar cologne. Of course, back then you didn't get paid for any of those things. Another favorite moment was walking in the opening ceremonies during the 1972 Olympics. Not really a skating moment but definitely skating related. Those Olympics were during the Vietnam War and there were riots at home. Patriotism was not high on the media list. I remember walking around the Olympic Stadium watching all the American flags being flown and being really proud to be an American."
Suna finished 12th at those Games in Japan, and 8th at the subsequent World Championship in Calgary, Canada.
"I retired fairly soon after the 1972 season to attend college. My skating career was over when I was 16 so now that I am 50 it doesn't seem like my competitive career took up very much of my life. I was planning to continue skating when I was a Harvard but there were so many other exciting and different things going on in my life that I never made it over to The Skating Club of Boston to practice. I never skated professionally as there wasn't that much going on back then and I really loved my years at Harvard and wouldn't have given that up to skate in an ice show.
"I graduated from Harvard in 1978. I took some time off in 1976 when my father had a stroke. After that I worked at The First National Bank of Boston for 3 years. During that time I was on the Athletes Advisory Committee to the USOC and went to the 1980 Olympics as an Athletes Representative for the USOC. During that time I realized how much I missed skating and I started to coach part-time as I was still working at the bank. I started teaching full time in 1982.
"I married Langham Gleason, MD in 1987. I have two children with Langham. Hadley is 18 years old and a freshman in college and Kylie is 16, skates at the Skating Club of Boston and is coached by Mark Mitchell and Peter Johannson.
"We moved to Sewickley, PA in 1994 as an academic neurosurgery position opened up for Langham at Allegheny General Hospital. At this point my life gets more complicated. Langham and I divorced in 1998. I remarried Calvin Augustin in 1999. My older daughter, Hadley, started at Phillips Exeter Academy in 2002. My younger daughter, Kylie, started to be a pretty good skater and I decided that I didn't want to coach her myself anymore. She was National Juvenile and Intermediate Pair champion a few years ago. Last year she won New England Junior Ladies (ed. Note: Kylie just placed 2nd in Senior Ladies at the 2007 New England Regional Championships). My husband works for US Airways so since we fly free, for the past three years I have been flying to PA on Sunday nights and coming back to Boston on Tuesday morning. I coach in Boston Tuesday through Sunday and Pittsburgh on Monday. Crazy life!!!"
1 Comments:
At October 20, 2007 2:22 PM, Anonymous said…
Hi Suna; You would probably not remember me, but I was a skater and a rink guard at the Grundy Skating rink in Bristol, Pa. When You were training with David Owen, before the 72 Olympic Games. How irronic that your husband works for USAIR, I went with Eastern Air Lines right after college and am with Continental to this day. Glad to hear You are still coaching. I stopped skating along time ago, but am still an avid skier. Take Care Tom McGlynn
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