He probably was not the greatest Guyanese boxer ever to take the ring, but could rank among the best dedicated patriots of Guyana's sport. Andrew Adolphus Murray accomplished much in his boxing career but was never allowed to supercede those feats as an administrator. He died in the midst of spearheading an effort to lift the sport from the doldrums to which it had inexplicably slipped. Professional and amateur boxing which brought Guy-ana its greatest acclaim of which Murray was a main contributor, has been experiencing bleak times and being the patriot he always was, Murray felt it was his duty to reverse its fortunes by making a direct contribution. Not many of Guyana's outstanding sportspeople return home to reside after having built big reputations outside of country. The great majority of our great cricketers are residents of the United Kingdom and even North America. So, too, are our best ever athletes, footballers and boxers. Murray, though, is a significant exception. He began his career as an amateur in the late 1980s and became one of the many gold medalists at the Junior Carifta Champion-ships. At the professional level he was a member of an even more exclusive club of fighters to win Commonwealth championships. Later on when his ascent into the world rankings started and he proved himself good enough to challenge for a world title, Murray was forced to take his campaign to the mecca of boxing in the United States. Throughout his sojourn there though, his heart was always in Guyana and when the ex-Commonwealth welterweight champion decided to hang up his gloves, he wasted little time in packing his belongings to remigrate home, unlike all of his fellow international champions of this era. His return home coincided with the decline of the sport, but it could well have been a pre-determined plan by Murray to give back a significant part of his life to develop the sport, regardless of its state at his retirement. Murray's immediate ob-jective was directed at the amateur level. His fondness for youths influenced his motive to develop the young pugilists which he conducted with unstinting dedication. In his short association with the sport outside of the ring, Murray contributed in almost all capacities, a fact unheard of in the circles of local sports administration. He once said his aim was to popularise amateur boxing and develop a team to win medals at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. In collaboration with another boxing philanthropist Keith Bazilio, a training programme was launched at the Forgotten Youth Foundation in Albouys-town, with Murray in charge of grooming and introducing the sport to whoever was interested. Later on he accepted a position of vice-president of the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association to boost his involvement, and at the time of his death Murray was catapulted to the position of coach of the national team. He was not only one of the best welterweights produced by Guyana, but also a champion humanitarian. Even in the midst of his reign as Com-monwealth champion, Mur-ray was never too proud to help his fellow pugilists. On many occasions he could be seen working the corners of other fighters in competition, most notably his unrelated namesake and ex-Fecarbox champion Joseph Murray. Not many followers know of the many long hours Murray spent preparing the team which won the senior amateur title at the 2001 Caribbean Championships in Grenada. At the same time, he was well into his career as a promoter of professional fight cards as well as manager/ trainer of current national junior lightweight champion Hugo Lewis. One of the key factors behind the decline of professional boxing in Guyana was a lack of competition for local fighters. The economic risks involved in staging cards scared away the best established and well meaning of promoters, leaving the sport, staring extinction in the face. Not Murray, though. He was determined to challenge all the pitfalls and soldiered on courageously, despite his inexperience in the business. He even took boxing to the Mining Town of Linden and managed to bring out the crowds despite the town's intense love for football, a testimony of his glowing reputation and engaging personality. The saddest episode of Murray's life story is that he died in the line of duty. Last Saturday when his car crashed on the Linden Soesdyke Highway, was one of the many days he spent in recent weeks, journeying to Linden, making arrangements for his next fight card which was set for February 16. His loss is one the sporting fraternity will always remember forever .