Sally Deaver Murray ’51

At Springside, Sally Deaver Murray played varsity field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse. Her yearbook describes her as ”a terrific inner on hockey varsity,” and several of her classmates remember her as a natural, hardworking athlete with great speed. In addition to her athletic pursuits at school, she excelled in tennis, golf, skating, horseback riding, and skiing. Between 1952 and 1959, Sally skied her way on to the U.S. Women’s ski team by winning the Alta Cup, Roch Cup, and Harriman Cup—the country’s top three invitational meets—and she won the 1956 and 1957 national Women’s Giant Slalom Championships and the 1956 national Women’s Slalom Championship. In the 1958 Word Championships in Badgastein, Austria, Sally surprised the international world of skiing by coming in second place in the Giant Slalom. She is quoted as saying, ”The only way to win a race is to take every chance and hope that you are lucky. You have to push yourself just a little further than you think you can go. There’s no point in trying for fifth or sixth. You have to think about coming in first.” Her skiing accomplishments have been honored through her inductions into the National Ski Hall of Fame and the Pennsylvania Ski Hall of Fame. In the early 60s, Sally exchanged her thirst for ski competition for competing in the horse world. Sadly, she was thrown from a horse and died at age 30.