Al Hurley was born in Medford, Oklahoma and was an Oklahoma state wrestling champion at 148 pounds for Stillwater High School in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He attended Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, now Oklahoma State University, then the University of Iowa, and finally back to OAMC.

Hurley lettered in football at OAMC, but was unable to wrestle because of an injury. He was a member of the swim team at Iowa. Hurley earned his bachelor's degree from OAMC and his master's degree from Iowa.

After a stint in the United States Army, Hurley taught for eight years and coached wrestling at Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska. He also coached basketball, football and track and swimming at the YMCA.

Hurley arrived at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois in 1948. He coached football, but wrestling appeared to be his better sport. Hurley's teams finished ninth place or better at the Illinois High School Association state wrestling tournament in 12 of his 14 seasons. New Trier won state team championships in 1950, 1951 and 1953 while finishing second in 1949 and 1955 and third in 1952.

Hurley coached 17 of New Trier's 22 state wrestling champions and also had 13 state runners-up. His program produced 48 state medalists.

Notable wrestlers coached by Hurley include National Wrestling Hall of Fame Distinguished Member and Olympic silver medalist Don Behm, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and former Chicago Bears great Mike Pyle.

Hurley began officiating and was accomplished enough to work several Big Ten and NCAA championships.

He wrote for the Illinois Interscholastic, touting the benefits of high school wrestling.

In the first edition of Scholastic Wrestling News, Bill "Red" Schmitt praised "excellent Illinois coaches" Waukegan's Ott Bay, Thornton's Ted Czech, Reavis' John Fitzgerald and New Trier's Al Hurley.

Hurley was inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Hall of Fame in 1973.