Mid City Times

University of North Texas’ JJ Murray, a 6-foot-1-inch basketball player, has earned this year’s Conference USA Winter Spirit of Service honor for actively participating in different organizations without sacrificing his academic and athletic standing.

“A leader on-campus and in the locker room, JJ Murray has worked to make a make a difference in the community at every turn for North Texas,” Conference USA said. “As a mechanical engineering major and business administration minor, Murray has achieved considerable academic success. Since his arrival in fall 2018, he has never had a semester GPA under 3.0 and was named to the C-USA Commissioners Honor Roll for five straight semesters.

"He has been named to the dean's list three times. In addition, Murray was named to the president’s list in the spring 2020 semester with a 4.0 GPA. A former walk-on who later earned an athletic scholarship and played in 36 career games, he averaged 2.4 points per game and 1.6 rebounds per game.”

The Mean Green guard is also a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, in which he volunteered to lead the community service and promotion subcommittee.

Murray spearheaded community service activities collaborating with the local chapter of the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Donation arm, and community yard sale to create fundraisers for the organization. He also serves as president of the UNT chapter of the American Society of Engineering Management and a member of the National Society of Black Engineers.

Notably, he is the first substitute off the bench for the 2021 C-USA champion Mean Green that won an NCAA tournament game for the first time in program history, an upset of No. 4 seed Purdue.

Student-athletes from each of the Conference USA’s 14 member schools have been presented with the award in recognition of their “significant community service endeavors, good academic standing and participation in their sport,” the conference reported.