Thea Murray-Martin
Class of 1977
Thea Murray-Martin ’77 was a classic three-sport athlete, capitalizing on her physical skills and a fierce competitive drive to excel as an all-Western Connecticut Conference player for the Green Wave field hockey, basketball and softball teams.
Her emergence at New Milford High School came during the mid-70s, an era when girls’ sports were rapidly expanding.
Thea was an ever-improving force for AHOF inductee coach Fran Zaloski’s Green Wave field hockey teams during her sophomore and junior seasons. She scored the match’s only goal to lift her junior-year team past Bethel, 1-0, in the process clinching state tournament qualification.
Then as a senior, Thea exploded for 14 goals and five assists as an all-Western Connecticut Conference standout, along the way earning team MVP laurels.
Thea was impactful for three seasons for the Green Wave basketball quintet, contributing her aggressive rebounding and steady scoring. In tandem with AHOF inductee Mary Schneider and other talented teammates, Thea helped build a 37-19 team record and several state tournament victories during that stretch.
Twice the Green Wave’s MVP, Thea included among her hardcourt highlights a 22-point performance to spark a 53-42 upset of previously unbeaten Bethel.
She was at her best for four years on the softball diamond for a potent Green Wave squad that advanced to the state tournament semifinals in her freshman season and shared a WCC title when she was a senior.
Overall, the Green Wave was 49-17 during Thea’s career. During her final three years, she anchored the NMHS defense as its athletic and strong-armed shortstop. Along the way, Thea and Co. built a 19-game win streak which likely ranks as a school record.
Always an aggressive power hitter, she terrorized rival pitchers to the tune of a .500 batting average - 23 for 46 - during her junior campaign.
By the time the curtain had been lowered on Thea’s Green Wave sports career, her teams had carved out a cumulative 106-50-5 record and qualified for nine state tournaments over her 10 full varsity seasons.
