On Nov. 25, Pascack Valley High School coach and teacher John Murtaugh—better known as Murt—received the Richard Poor Service Award at the 60th Annual Bergen County YMCA Sports Award Banquet.
Murtaugh has worked at PVHS for 17 years. Currently, he is a Special Education Teacher and coaches cross country and spring track.
According to the Metropolitan YMCA of the Oranges, this award is given to individuals who have made notable contributions to better the community. The award’s focus is not only on the individual’s commitment to sports, but also on their impact through their teaching.
Murtaugh shared that he hadn’t been aware that he was even nominated for the award. He explained that, at first, he was confused when he found out.
“It actually caught me off guard at first,” Murtaugh said. “I wasn’t expecting any such award at all. It certainly made many of the long, hot, or extremely cold evening practices a little less memorable.”
The award is named after Richard Poor, who was one of the founders of the Sports Award Banquet. He started the event in 1966 and served on the YMCA Board of Managers until he passed away in 2015.
Murtaugh described the experience of attending the banquet as nerve-wracking.
“I have been to a number of award ceremonies, but never one for me,” said Murtaugh. “I was a little nervous. I was expected to make a short speech. I love to talk to people but not a full room of people!”
Murtaugh also spoke about his acceptance speech at the event.
“My acceptance speech was the second shortest speech of the evening. The recipient with the shortest speech simply said thank you; mine was about 10 seconds longer,” said Murtaugh. “I recited a quote from the late Mohammed Ali, which went like this: ‘The service we do for others is the rent we pay for our room here on earth.’ I always liked this quote.”
When Murtaugh reflected upon receiving the award, he shared that the Pascack Valley community has been the most meaningful collaboration to him.
“That’s the true beauty of Pascack Valley and its culture… every collaborat[ive] effort I’ve had [with] any teacher here at school has been uplifting,” said Murtaugh.
Looking to the future, Murtaugh explained that he is happy with where he is now and will continue to teach since it’s what he loves to do.
