LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – Former UNLV star running back Shaquille Murray-Lawrence helped his Canadian bobsled team to a pair of top-20 finishes as the Olympic Winter Games wrapped up Sunday in Italy.
Named after the NBA legend and nicknamed Shaq-Mu during his time with the Rebels, Murray-Lawrence was a member of his native nation's two-man and four-man teams that reached their respective event's finals at Cortina's Sliding Centre. On Tuesday, his two-man entry finished 18th while his four-man team concluded with a 14th-place showing on Sunday, just ahead of the games' closing ceremonies.
"(Competing here was) very special for me, my country, my friends, family, my whole community," Murray-Lawrence, who can often be seen sporting a gold UNLV logo chain necklace, told the AP earlier in the week. "Just being able to give it my all and just represent Canada."
Shaq-Mu, 32, has been part of Canada's national bobsled program since wrapping up his professional football career in the Canadian Football League. He competed as a running back and kick returner in the CFL for five seasons.
Drafted 23rd overall by the British Columbia Lions in 2015, he played for BC, Saskatchewan and Montreal before transitioning to bobsledding in 2020 due to COVID-19 shutdowns and soon became a top brakeman for his country.
Murray-Lawrence, a native of London, Ontario, played two seasons in junior college before transferring to UNLV. In 2014, he earned his first letter as a Rebel by playing in 12 games and ranked second on the team with 418 net yards on just 47 carries. He made an immediate impact for the Scarlet & Gray in his debut as the man with the then-longest name in school history took the shortest route ever to 100 rushing yards in the season opener at Minnesota as he needed just four carries to finish with 108 on the ground, becoming the first Rebel to reach the century mark with less than five attempts. After logging an eye-popping 8.9 yards per-carry average that fall, he returned in 2014 to lead the team with 552 net rush yards and nine touchdowns in just nine games played. His three 100-yard outings as a senior included a career-high 143 yards on just 20 carries at BYU.
The former footballer was an alternate for Canada during the 2022 Beijing Games but last year he and pilot Cyrus Gray became the first Black duo to compete in a World Cup two-man bobsled race – before this winter finally making his Olympic debut in Itay.
