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Marquette Crew's giant slumber party

By Matthew Bin Han Ong, Comm '12

Athletes know that every extra hour of good shuteye brings them closer to that coveted golden cup — and two Marquette alums in Rockford, Ill., have been very generous in recognizing that prerequisite.

Susie Mueller-Murray, Jour ’90, and her husband, Tony Murray, Arts ’88, learned from another alumnus that the Marquette Crew competes every fall in the Head of the Rock, the Midwest’s largest rowing event in Rockford with more than 80 participating teams across the nation.

“After contacting the coach, we decided to open up our home and feed them dinner,” Susie says. “I'm pretty sure it's better than sleeping on a gym floor.”

For three years, the couple has provided room and board for the 50-strong rowing crew and the coaches in their Rockford home — and as one might guess, feeding a humungous hoard of hungry, muscle-bound college kids is no small feat.

“They eat a lot!” Susie exclaims. “I serve plenty of pasta and salad, and they love dessert, of course. It’s like having one big Christmas dinner.”

Novice rower Sheikh Hasib Bin Zaman, a computer science graduate student, describes the food as “very delicious.”

Hasib says he loves Susie and Tony because they were very charismatic and that his stay at their house was probably the most enjoyable bit of the trip, apart from the competition.

So where do the Murrays tuck in 50 athletes for the night?

“Everywhere! I clear out a couple of bedrooms for them. Seniors grab those right away,” Susie says. “But most of them sleep on the carpeted basement floor. A few lucky ones claim the leather sectional or the chaise.”

A “Marquette merger” (as Susie’s mother dubbed the couple), Susie and Tony are very involved with the Marquette alumni group in their area and active in volunteer work. Susie says it feels good to give back, and helping the MU Crew is certainly one way of doing that.

“Seeing the enormous mountain of shoes at my front door for the first time was definitely memorable,” she says. “They really are a great group, always friendly and helpful.”