Murray State University Athletics
Photo by: Murray State Sports Information
Dr. Hal Houston Remembered For Contributions To MSU Athletics
7/16/2010 11:18:00 AM | General, Hall of Fame
Murray State Athletics lost a dear friend and valued colleague when MSU Team Doctor, Dr. Hal Houston, died at the age of 72 at his home in Murray, Ky., Thursday, July 15.
Apart from his outstanding career as a physician, Houston served Racer Athletics and was one of the pioneers that shaped sports medicine at MSU for nearly four decades.
Dr. Richard Blalock served with Dr. Houston as team physician for nearly 30 of those 36 years.
“I don't think you can find a guy who was a more dedicated supporter of Murray State than Dr. Hal,” Blalock said. “It was a dedication that he had to the city and to the university that kept him going all these years. This community will miss Dr. Hal as will Murray State. He loved Murray, the guy breathed Murray State.”
Blalock recalls those fond times, most of which he said came during the “tough victories and championships in MSU football and basketball.”
“I was proud to develop a love of sports medicine through Dr. Hal,” Blalock added. “He tutored me not only in sports medicine, but throughout my medical career. I would come and spend summers with him. It was a way to learn medicine the old-fashioned way. I was like his apprentice.”
MSU Head Athletic Trainer Alan Lollar worked side by side with Dr. Houston and saw the impact he had on the advancement of sports medicine.
MSU Head Athletic Trainer Alan Lollar worked side by side with Dr. Houston and saw the impact he had on the advancement of sports medicine.
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“Dr. Hal had a big heart, and a large part of it belonged to Murray State,” Lollar said. “His commitment to Murray State and the care of its student-athletes are both a matter of record. It's impossible for me to say all that he meant to me, both as a team physician and as a friend. It's really special when those two things come in one package.”
Dr. Eddie McFarland, who played football at MSU in the 1970's and was inducted into the MSU Hall of Fame in 1993, called Dr. Houston a friend and mentor.
“His influence on me and hundreds of other doctors is amazing,” said McFarland, Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at The Johns Hopkins University. “He mentored many doctors who in turn helped hundreds of thousands of patients. Because of Hal, one of my missions has been to mentor other doctors as he did for me. I told him just last week on the phone that he could rest assured his legacy will go on through other doctors.”
MSU Head Men's Basketball Coach Billy Kennedy knew Dr. Hal as a friend and tremendous supporter of the Racers.
“Hal was a good friend and he cared about the student-athletes,” Kennedy said. “I'm going to miss the great stories that he had about MSU Basketball. Our prayers go out to his wife Tara and his family.”
Dr. Houston was given the Kentucky Athletic Trainer Society Award of Merit in 2001 and the MSU Alumni Association's Golden Horseshoe Award in 1998, the same year he was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame. When the Regional Special Events Center opened, the new athletic training room was dedicated in his honor.
He graduated from Murray State in 1958 and from the Louisville School of Medicine in 1962, completed an internship at the University of Washington in 1963 and completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic in 1967.
Dr. Houston served for 41 years as a member of the Tennessee Army National Guard, achieving the rank of colonel and held teaching positions at Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee Critical Care Center.
He also served the athletics departments at Calloway County High School and Murray High School.
Services for Dr. Hal Houston will be held at First United Methodist Church in Murray, Ky. Visitation will be Saturday, July 17 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. with the funeral Sunday, July 18 at 3 p.m.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers memorial donations be given to the MSU athletics department for the establishment of the Houston Athletic Trainer Fund, the Hal E. Houston Pi Kappa Alpha Lodge Fund and the First United Methodist Church of Murray for the establishment of the Hal E. Houston Mission Fund.
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