Lenda Murray
| Lenda Murray | |
|---|---|
| — Bodybuilder — | |
| Personal info | |
| Nickname | Female Haney |
| Born |
February 22, 1962 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) |
| Weight | (In Season): 150–153 lb (68–69 kg) (Off-Season): 158–164 lb (72–74 kg) |
| Professional career | |
| Pro-debut | IFBB Ms. Olympia, 1990 |
| Best win | Ms. Olympia champion (heavyweight and overall), 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2002, and 2003 |
| Predecessor |
Cory Everson Juliette Bergmann Iris Kyle |
| Successor |
Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls Iris Kyle |
| Active | Retired 2004 |
Lenda Murray (born February 22, 1962) is an American professional female bodybuilding champion.
Murray was born in 1962 in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Darcelious and Louvelle Murray. She began participating in organized sports at the age of 15. At Henry Ford High School, Murray was both a record-holding sprinter and varsity cheerleader. She went on to attend Western Michigan University, earning a degree in political science and intended to become a lawyer. While at Western Michigan, she continued to cheerlead, and became the second African American to be chosen as the university’s homecoming queen in 1982.
After a brief tenure cheerleading for the Michigan Panthers in the now-defunct United States Football League, she worked with the Michigan Panthers for two years and then was invited to try out for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. After she auditioned for the group and made the next-to-last cut, she decided she might need to slenderize her thighs a bit.
In 1984, she joined a gym, the Powerhouse Gym, in Highland Park, Michigan. Within the first two days of joining the gym, Ron Love, an NPC Nationals contender told her that she had the physique to be a bodybuilder. After about a year of training to just stay in shape, she decided to compete in the 1985 Ms. Michigan Championships. After placing 4th she was hooked to the sport. Her father didn't show up to her first bodybuilding competition, but eventually did to others. She rose quickly through the ranks, soon winning contests at the state and regional levels. In 1989, she earned her professional status at the IFBB North American Championships.
Murray soon became a regular presence in bodybuilding magazines and a favorite subject of photographer Bill Dobbins who focused extensively on her in his books The Women and Modern Amazons. At the 1990 Ms. Olympia, Murray succeeded six-time champion Cory Everson and defeated Bev Francis to become the Ms. Olympia champion, a title Murray would hold for from 1990 to 1996. She appeared in such mass-market publications as Sports Illustrated, Ebony, Mademoiselle, and Vanity Fair, as well as in Annie Leibovitz’s photo essay Women. Murray’s physique became the standard against which professional female bodybuilders are now judged—an hourglass figure, with broad shoulders tapering into a V-shaped torso mirrored by a proportionally-developed lower body. At the 1991 Ms. Olympia, Murray won the slimmest margin of victory for any Ms. Olympia, edging out Bev Francis by a final score of 31 to 32. Afterwords she would go on to win the Ms. Olympia competition in 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995. At a 1994 guest appearance at the Mr. Universe competition, Murray meet her future husband, Urel McGill.
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