Tinker Murray is a professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance at Texas State University. He has served as Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation at Brooke Army Medical Center where he was twice recognized for his exceptional performance. He has been at Southwest Texas and Texas State University since 1984 and served as the Director of Employee Wellness from 1984-88, and Director of the Exercise Performance Laboratory from 1984-2000. From 1985-88 Tinker was a sub-committee member for the Governor's Commission on Physical fitness that developed the Fit Youth Today Program. Tinker has been a lecturer and examiner for the USA Track and Field Level II Coaching Certification Program (1988 - 2008). He served as the Vice Chair of the Governor's (for Governor Ann Richards) Commission for Physical Fitness in Texas from 1993-94. Tinker is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and certified as an ACSM Program Director. He is a former two-time president of the Texas regional chapter of ACSM (1987 & 1994).

He served on the national ACSM Board of Trustees from 1998-2001. Dr. Murray served on a five-year study intervention (HEALTHY) as a Co-I (Roberto Trevino, M.D., PI) funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to prevent Type-2 diabetes in middle school minority students in San Antonio, TX and nationwide. The HEALTHY Study group has recently (2010) reported the key findings of the intervention in The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Murray has worked with the Professional Development Cooperative (PDC) in coordination with the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) and D.

W. Rutledge (Executive Director) since 2003 to promote continuing education experiences for coaches. He has authored or co-authored several books, refereed journal articles, edited articles, and published abstracts.