Murray State University Athletics
Bill Furgerson Remembered As Great Coach and Friend
9/21/2006 5:00:00 AM | Football
Former
The native of Murray and a former student-athlete and coach at MSU died Thursday, he was 77 years old. Furgerson served as head football coach at MSU from 1967-77 and along with former coach Roy Stewart, holds the school record with 60 career wins. He was the school's first track and cross country coach from 1956 to 1967. He led the football team to six winning seasons, won two conference cross country titles and captured six Ohio Valley Conference track championships.
One of the people Furgerson touched was Dennis Jackson who was the first African American student-athlete at MSU.
“He was always there for me, if I needed something he was there, he was more than a coach, he was a friend,” Jackson said. “This is a loss for the Murray community, he was a great guy and he saw people as people nothing else.”
Furgerson was a member of the
Furgerson was a fellow student-athlete with Bennie Purcell, one of MSU's greatest basketball players.
“We were together as players and as
Furgerson led Murray State football through one of its most important periods, when the program left Cutchin Field with seating for about 5,000 for Roy Stewart Stadium and more than 16,000 seats in 1973.
coaches, he was successful in everything he did,” Purcell said. “There haven't been many coaches, who have had the career he had in track and field in the OVC, he brought the program to a new level and as a football coach, he had good teams too.”
During this time, mid-major college football separated itself from small school football, and the Murray State program was set on a course that brought it to a higher level that it enjoys today.
“During the transition from Cutchin Field to Stewart Stadium, he laid the ground work for Mike Gottfried and Frank Beamer to have success,” Former MSU Head Trainer Tom Simmons said.
“He was a close personal friend of mine, our relationship was more of friendship than it was trainer and head coach,” Simmons added. “He was a Murray guy, born here, raised here and loved Murray State and he loved to coach and teach young people.”
Following graduation, Furgerson served as an assistant coach at
He returned to
Furgerson came back to MSU in 1956 as an assistant football coach, and head track and cross country coach. In 1960, after a
football coaching change, Furgerson devoted all his time to the track and cross country programs and wrote one of the brightest chapters in
In his first year as head track coach the 1957 squad finished last in the conference meet and not a single Racer won a first place medal.
The next year his team vaulted from the bottom to the top and MSU began a string of six straight conference track championships. The Racers put together a string of 24 straight wins in dual meets and were unbeaten by OVC teams from 1958 through 1964.
In 1962, Furgerson was award the first Ohio Valley Conference Track Coach of the Year award.
The MSU cross country team captured league championships in 1962 and 1963 under Furgerson's direction.
Furgerson took over the
In 1969 the Racers went
While leading the
In 1973, Furgerson helped the
Furgerson concluded his 11-year tenure as head football coach with a record of 60-49-4 (.549). Only
Visitation for Coach Ferguson is Saturday Sep. 23 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at J.H. Churchill Funeral Home. The funeral service is Sunday at 2 p.m.
