NOTE: The video above showcases Dr. Marshall Banks, the first African-American athlete overall at Morehead State. He, along with MSU Hall of Famer Jim Wells, talk about integration and the role Howard Murphy played. It is an excerpt from the yet-to-be released documentary film "Far Above the Rolling Campus" by Steven Middleton and John Tanner Blevins.
A great football player, for sure.
But the late Howard Murphy was every bit a great person, too. That's how Mike Brown remembers Murphy more than half a century after they were teammates at Morehead State University.
Murphy, inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990, will be further honored this weekend, when his No. 33 jersey will be retired. A standout running back in the 1960-63 seasons, Murphy rushed for 1,447 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also performed double duty as a defensive back.
He was a first-team all-Ohio Valley Conference selection in 1962, a second-teamer in 1961 (when he led the league with 6.3 yards per carry) and was a Little All-American in 1961.
Murphy excelled on the track, too, setting an OVC record of 9.7 seconds in the 100-yard dash. Those were not the only ways in which he stood out, though.
Just ask Brown, who still lives in the college town where he played and coached football, earned his doctorate and was MSUl's long-time faculty athletics representative.
Murphy was Morehead State's first African-American football player, as well as the first in the OVC. (The only other African-American in the OVC until that time was Eagles' basketball player Marshall Banks, who arrived in 1958.)
It was, in Brown's words, "a tough situation."
"And especially when we went on the road to the South, to the Tennessee schools," Brown said. "We got in scuffles all the time, his teammates did, because they were punching him in the pileups and giving him a hard time because he was black."
Brown, who came to MSU a year before Murphy arrived, said he felt an immediate kinship to Murphy because they both arrived from Ohio – Brown from Logan and Murphy from Springfield.
Brown was raised in an integrated community. But the same was not true for some teammates.
"We had a lot of Georgia players, Tennessee players. I'm sure it's the first time they ever played against a black," Brown said. "I'm sure they had some problems with that relationship. But after they got to know him, what kind of fella he was and how hard a worker he was, no problems.
We didn't have problems, really, that I can remember."
Brown recalls that Murphy never lost his cool when confronted by racist actions. And remember, Brown says, Murphy only 18.
"He never complained. Never struck back. Never did things that were out of place," Brown said. "He was a great guy. … When we would dig him out of a pileup and things like that, protect him, he'd just walk back to the huddle and get in his position and wait for the next play.
"I mean, he was amazing. And I think he understood that when he came down here. I think he understood that he was breaking the color line in the OVC, and he was told that. So he was ready for it, I think. And we were, of course, happy to have him."
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Brown, 75, also played a major role on the squad. A three-year letterman, he was captain of the 1962 Eagles team that tied for the OVC championship, was an all-OVC selection and defensive back of the year.
Brown also played quarterback for three seasons. Then, due to a shoulder injury, he moved to end.
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"He almost got me fired at quarterback," Brown said of Murphy. "And the reason was that I used to watch him after I'd handoff to him. I would have to watch him and see what he was going to do. Because he would go through the line and he'd give them this-and-that and then shoot through. I mean, it was amazing the moves he had."
Rather than a knock-'em-over power runner, Brown says Murphy "was shifty and had speed. … He could spurt, and he could shift-and-go."
But it is the person, in addition to the player, that Brown fondly recalls.
"Character-wise, never complained," Brown said. "Always on time. Always did the right thing for the coaches. And I can't say enough about him. A good person, and a good player."
Murphy's No. 33 jersey will be the 12
th to adorn Jayne Stadium, joining John "Buck" Horton (51), Stanley Radjunas (32), Paul Adams (22), Vincent "Moose" Zachem (42), Joe Lustic (31), Dave Haverdick (77), Phil Simms (12), John Christopher (19), Billy Poe (67), Darrell Beavers (5) and David Dinkins (8).
A reception, dinner and retirement ceremony in Murphy's honor is scheduled for Friday at the Morehead Conference Center from 5-7 p.m. The dinner is free. All former football players and their families, especially from the 1959-62 teams, are invited to attend.
Murphy will be recognized at halftime of the Saturday home opener against Virginia Military Institute. His wife Jenny and his family and friends will be on hand to accept the honor.
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