Whether he was alone in a gym perfecting his craft, on the court with his teammates for practice or under the bright lights on game nights, Dakota Murr gave everything he had to The Dalles High School.
It wasn’t for personal accolades, awards or extra shine, however – the most important thing was using the varsity stage as an example to the young kids coming up that anything is possible.
After capping a regular-season with his third consecutive first-team all-Columbia River Conference award, Murr earned all-state honorable mention recognition for the second year in a row.
“Getting all-state is an awesome achievement for me and should inspire all the youngsters around here to become great,” Murr said. “All they have to do is put in the extra work, while no one is watching, because that’s when you become great. There were several late nights spent in the gym, where I would shoot until around two in the morning, because I knew the next morning when I went to school that I did it because I wanted to be better than I was the day before.”
Murr’s rise to the top started out at the junior varsity level.
It didn’t take long to make his presence known, as he had several 20-point totals and even added an impressive 40-point game to his resume before being called up to join the varsity squad.
He finished the year strong with sporadic contributions, but following his freshman campaign, The Dalles changed coaches, going from Bob Townsend to Nathan Morris.
Murr took a liking to Morris’ faster style of play, which fit his skill set much better.
To make a difference, Murr said that he needed to be more well-rounded player, not just a scorer, so defense and passing were going to be a major part to his vast repertoire.
“When you play tough defense, you can get the steals and set up fast break chances. You get the ball in transition and find the open player for easy looks,” Murr said in an earlier interview. “Once everyone gets more involved offensively, it opens things up for you to get your shots going.”
As a sophomore, Murr, who earned first-team all-league honors, averaged 20.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game, while connecting on 41.5 percent on three-pointers, and 86.6 percent from the free throw line.
While he had a handful of monster performances, the biggest one came in an overtime win over Woodburn, when he set a career-high with 50 points.
In his junior campaign, Murr tallied 26 points and added nearly 10 rebounds a contest in Columbia River Conference action, including a school-record 53-point, 15-rebound explosion in a 75-68 road victory against Hood River Valley.
During that 2016-2017 season, Murr notched 39.6 points a game in three matchups against Hood River Valley, adding double figures in every league contest, so he had his name called as a first-team all-Columbia River Conference recipient and his first all-state award.
This past winter, Murr averaged 17.6 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, eclipsing double figures in all but one league game, as he hit for 20 points or more three times in CRC action.
Murr totaled 28 points to lead the Hawks to a 91-85 victory against Hermiston on Feb. 2, and then notched 27 in his final game at Hood River Valley, a 64-53 setback on Feb. 20.
The senior, who finished with 1,362 career points, picked up first-team all-league and honorable all-state honors.
“Dakota has been such a joy for me to coach these last three years and I am going to miss him tremendously,” Morris said. “His recognition as one of the best players in the state is very well deserved and I am so glad he received this honor in his senior year.”
The high school season runs from November to March, but Murr played summer ball on AAU squads that traveled across the Pacific Northwest for tournaments.
All those chances to play against elite competition allowed him to expand on his game and get his name and school known.
Murr is thankful for the sacrifices and monetary commitments by his parents, Randy and Ronna, because they opened those doors to whole new level of basketball.
“Hats off to my mother and father for doing so much for me,” Dakota said. “My parents have always been there for me. They’d put me in front of anything just to see me succeed in life and there is no one in this world that could replace them. It’s a blessing to have such a great family.”
Since an early age, Ronna Murr just knew her youngest son was going to be a success story.
His work ethic and desire were a driving force to what made him the person he is today.
“Randy and I are very proud of his humble, stay-focused attitude,” Ronna said. “Dakota has always known what he wanted and went after it. He had a tremendous four-year career with the Riverhawks. He continues to work diligently to improve academically and toward his goal of playing college ball.”
At this point, Murr has had a few looks from collegiate coaches, but no decision about his future has been made yet.
If that opportunity comes, he is willing to do whatever it takes to make the community proud.
He is humbled and thankful to win awards and he shares everything with the community, his teammates and the coaches, who have been by side through all phases of his life.
“I’m glad to be a part of such a great community that has supported me all the way through high school,” Dakota said. “There are not a lot of athletes that get put into this position and I’m glad to be a Riverhawk to do it. Lastly, I just wanted to say thank you to coach Morris. He has been nothing but supportive of me throughout my final three years in this program.”
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