Ultimate Fan John Murray (far right) attends a Boston Red Sox game against the Minnesota Twins with his family. Murray Discusses Boston Sports, Alzado Friendship There’s little that can be said about the history of Boston sports that hasn’t been written a thousand times before. It’s a history of great success, spectacular loss, complex characters and a perseverance that’s hard to match. But as difficult as it is to write a complete account of that history, some have had the privilege to witness much of it first-hand. John “Muggsy” Murray of Yankton is one such individual. If you ever stepped into Muggsy’s Sub Gallery during his tenure as owner, you would’ve seen this history represented throughout the restaurant — ranging from a picture of Bobby Orr’s famed “Flying Goal” in the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals to authentic seats from Fenway Park and plenty of New England Patriots memorabilia to go around. A native of Quincy, Massachusetts, Murray came out to Yankton in 1969 at the behest of his hockey coach. “It was kind of a jungle,” Murray said. “My hockey coach made me come here. He said, ‘Murray, you’ve got to get out of this. This isn’t good for you. This isn’t a good environment.’” Heartbreaking When the Boston Red Sox won the 1918 World Series against the Chicago Cubs , it was their fifth championship. No team had won more World Series than they had. It would be the start of a championship drought that would last 86 years and see the team gain a reputation for finding creative ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory while 6vHISVOICEvMARCH/APRIL 2018 denying some of the greatest players of all time rings because they wore a Red Sox uniform. It was in the midst of that drought that Murray would grow up along with the team. “I played baseball in Little League from day one and from then on it was just addicting,” he said. “We just followed the Red Sox because it was the thing to do in the day.” Murray picked up a hatred of the dreaded New York Yankees at an early age too. “I started collecting baseball cards and, of course, would put all the Yankees on the bicycle spokes,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris cards I wrecked.” He also learned at an early age that being a Red Sox fan could be complicated. This was demonstrated when he went to get an autograph from Red Sox legend Ted Williams, who had his own complicated relationship with the city’s fans. “I had a bag of balls and this was back when you didn’t get money for autographs, you didn’t collect them for that — you just did it to have it,” he said. “I gave him one ball, he signed it and he broke my heart. I give him another ball for Paulie King — another kid in the neighborhood — and he goes, ‘Hey, listen you little s**t. There’s other people around here … you got your ball, now go away. Next.’ I was so crushed. I was like, ‘This guy’s my idol and he did that to me.’ I was only like 12 years old.” Murray would see the Red Sox drop three World Series in his lifetime in 1967, 1975 and 1986. But then came the magical year of 2004. That year, the Sox made it to the American League Championship Series (ALCS) where they fell behind the Yankees three games to none before storming back to take the pennant. A quick, four-game World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals seemed almost anti-climactic, but that was far from how Murray would describe it. “I don’t think I slept for three days,” he said. “It really was so exciting. … That first one was pretty intense and pretty exciting. What a miraculous feeling and season.” At one point, Murray even gained a little insight from the man that helped history happen — Dr. William Morgan. Morgan is best known for helping pitcher Curt Schilling through an