[1][2] After his mother died when he was three years old, Murray's father moved Cecil and his two siblings to West Palm Beach, Florida.

[1][2] During his middle and high school years, Murray became a junior preacher at his church, Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME).

[1][3] As a teenager, he and his brother Edward witnessed his father confront three white men who were harassing Black people waiting at a soup kitchen.

[1][3] After the incident, Murray's father made a blood oath covenant with his sons, swearing that they would always love and defend Black people.

[3] In 1958, when he was stationed at Oxnard Air Force Base, situated northwest of Los Angeles, his fighter jet crashed on takeoff, pinning Murray in the back of the plane.