The inaugural Lewis V. Murray Golf Tournament at the Bogalusa Country Club was a win for everybody.

The event on Saturday, June 15, honored former Bogalusa High School Football coach Lewis V. Murray, helped raise money for the Lumberjacks’ football program and allowed for good competition.

“We named the tournament after Lewis V. Murray Jr. because of all he’s done for our community and the history of Bogalusa High School,” Bogalusa coach Adam Brumfield said. “I was thankful Mr. Bill Murray spoke. I also think it is unique that this year will be the 50th year anniversary of the team winning the state championship.”

Murray coached for 40 years with 27 of them at Bogalusa along with five each at Bowling Green School and Pearl River Junior College and three years at Poplarville High School.

Over the 40 years, Murray posted a 300-128-10 record.

At Bogalusa, Murray had a 202-97-6 mark and coached the Lumberjacks to a Class AAA state title in 1969. That year, Bogalusa went 14-0.

The team was also state runner-up in 1970 and 1987.

Murray is in three Hall of Fames — the Louisiana Coaches Association (inducted in 1980), the Southern Mississippi Hall of Fame (1982) and the Pearl River Community College Hall of Fame (1990).

Bogalusa High School’s football stadium is named after Murray.

Brumfield spoke to the golfers prior to the tournament and then Murray’s son Bill talked to the participants.

“I am very honored to be here on behalf of the Murray family to kick off the golf tournament,” Bill Murray said. “This is the first annual Lewis (V.) Murray Jr. Memorial Golf Tournament and hopefully it will be something that will help the football program and give them some financial assets through this tournament to help with their football program. It’s been, I guess, 13 years this coming October since my dad passed away. It was the year after Katrina, but he loved Bogalusa Lumberjacks. We always teased him about bleeding black-and-gold, but he was there 27 years as the head coach. He started there in 1960 and his last year was the football team of 1986 and he retired in the spring of ’87.”

The tournament was originally scheduled for May 11, but was pushed back because of weather.

The two-person scramble featured 20 golfers over 10 teams.

The team of Richard Strahan and Rob Ritchie were victorious.

Wilbur Morris/Eric Manning were second, followed by Joey Melancon/Vaughn Meiners.

“I thought it was very successful,” Brumfield said. “We had a lot of people in the community that sponsored holes and teams. That’s good to know they still contribute to our school and our program. We had a lot of good golfers, a lot of good food and I hope everybody had a good time. It seemed like they did.”

The sponsors included Nielsen’s Pharmacy, Lobb’s Horticulture, Charles Mehle, Carney’s AC Furniture, Blackwell’s Heat and AC, Care Physical Therapy, Eye Save Optical, Access Health, Randy “Country” Seal, Richard Thomas, Poole-Ritchie Funeral Home, Malinda White, Capital One, Robert Neilson, Lions Club, Citizens Bank, Steve Brooks (Remax), Johnny Crain, The Varnado Group, Bino’s and The Murry Family.