Suna Murray - 1972 U.S. Ladies Bronze Medalist and Olympic Competitor:
Suna Murray won the bronze medal at the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships in 1972. She competed for the United States in the 1972 Olympics.
Childhood:
Suna Murray was born in Tallahassee, Florida. She was the only child of Dr. and Mrs. Stewart Murray. The family moved to New Jersey when she was four years old and lived in the same house in South Orange, New Jersey until Suna went to college.
How Suna Began to Skate:
Suna's father grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada and played hockey. South Mountain Arena in West Orange, New Jersey was ten minutes from the family's home, so Suna's father started her skating as soon s the family moved to New Jersey.
Coaches and Training:
Suna showed much talent and passed her Preliminary Figure Test when she was only five years old.
Suna Murray's first coach was Hans Gershwiler. Suna reflects that because of Hans Gershwiller, she was given great technigue from the start.
When she was twelve years old, she changed coaches and began working with Peter Burrows. Louis Stong from Toronto would choreograph her programs. Suna writes that both Peter and Louis did a great job. She states that Louis later coached Canadian Figure Skating Champion Kurt Browning and choreographed all of his amazing programs.
Summer Training:
There were no ice rinks open during the summer in New Jersey in the early 1960s, so Suna went to skating camp in Schumacher, Canada for ten weeks every year. There were four to five ice surfaces in Schumacher and skaters (and coaches) would come from all over the world to train there every summer.
Suna went to Schumacher every summer until she was ten. Then she began going to Toronto during the summers and skated at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club. Even though there were many rinks open during the summer in the U.S. by that time, Suna continued to spend her summers skating in Canada.
Competition Highlights:
In 1971, at age fifteen, Suna Murray competed in her first nationals. That year, the competition took place in Buffalo, New York. She won the bronze medal in the Senior Ladies event and qualified for the World Figure Skating Championships. She received a standing ovation after her performance at that nationals. Suna enjoyed making friends with famous skaters of that time.
Suna remembers the following about that eventful year:
- "I was on practice sessions with Janet Lynn who at the time was my idol."
- "JoJo Starbuck who was another idol actually spoke to me when I came off a practice session."
Harvard Dream Becomes a Reality:
In October of 1971, Suna performed in "An Evening with Champions" at Harvard. After her weekend in Cambridge, Suna decided that Harvard would be her first choice for college. Suna remembers thinking that if she could qualify for the Olympics that she could probably get into Harvard. She returned home and really started to work hard at her skating.
Suna came in third at the 1972 Nationals in Long Beach, California and competed in the Olympics. She was accepted to Harvard. She graduated from Harvard in 1978.
Career:
After college Suna worked at the First National Bank of Boston (now Bank of America) for four years. She loved her job, but then started teaching figure skater Nathan Birch a little on weekends and sometimes in the morning. She realized how much she loved teaching skating and has been coaching skating ever since.
Memorable Skating Moments:
Suna Murray writes:- "One of my most memorable skating moments was
falling over the curtain at Madison Square Garden
during the first Champions On Ice show. I was on
Beepers and Bloopers forever. I also went to Lake
Placid in 1980 with the Olympic Committee as the
Athletes' Representative."
Family Life:
In January of 2007, Suna Murray writes:
- "I married Patrick Gleason in 1986. He is the
father of my two children. Hadley is eighteen years old and
a freshman at Trinity College in Hartford. She
is the three sport varsity athlete type. She does field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse. That is what four years of
prep school at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hamphshire will do
for you. Patrick is the reason I ended up in
Sewickley, Pennsylvania. After four years of medical school and a seven
year neurosurgery residency at Harvard he was offered
his first job in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We were divorced in
1997.
I married Calvin Augustin in 1998. He is a pilot for US Airways and the only reason that my present schedule with Kylie works at all."
Suna lives and coaches in Boston during the week and flies to Pennsylvania on the weekends. Her youngest daughter, Kylie Gleason, is now an elite figure. Kyle won the Eastern Sectional Championship in the Senior Ladies Division in 2007.
Suna continues to share the following about her life in January of 2007:
- "I have three stepsons (their mother died of
cancer). Matt and Mark are twenty-one year old twins (both in
college at Penn State) John is twenty-six and teaches special
education in Florida. I will be a grandmother in a few weeks
as John and Sally are expecting a baby boy."
