Sunday, June 06, 1999
N.KY. HIGH SCHOOL COLUMN
Longtime coach Murphy to get honor Monday
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Mike Murphy loves to tell the stories. Former players coming over to play billiards in his basement. Coming up to him in restaurants to thank him for making them men. They are small, wonderful moments. He deserves a big one.
At the Northern Kentucky East-West all-star football game, at 7:30p.m. Monday at Scott, Murphy will be honored at halftime. He turns 65 Monday — a beautiful reason for thousands of people to sing Happy Birthday — and is long overdue for an ovation.
“He's had such a great impact on so many young people's lives,” said Highlands coach Dale Mueller, who played for Murphy at Highlands and coached under him at Newport. “He's such an extremely positive person. And he keeps on giving.”
Murphy, who retired from teaching in 1987 but continues coaching as a Boone County assistant, has the longest tenure of any active coach in Northern Kentucky, regardless of the sport. He began as a Holmes assistant in 1959, and should he return for the 2000 season, he will have coached in six decades.
“Sports have been my life,” he said. “It wasn't just football we taught. It was a lot about living.”
Murphy is first and foremost an athlete. He won a state pole vault title at Holmes in 1952. He played football at the University of Cincinnati for legendary coach Sid Gillman from 1953-55, quarterbacking a team that won a school-record 16 straight games in that span.
A possible pro career in football or baseball was sidelined after a knee injury suffered late in his senior football season. He hadn't thought about coaching, but in 1959, Holmes coach Tom Ellis asked him to help coach his football team.
Murphy later assisted Homer Rice and Owen Hauck at Highlands. He became Highlands' coach in 1967 and went 66-12-1 in seven years, winning two Class AA state titles. He went to Newport, which had gone 24-81 in the 11 seasons before his arrival, and managed an 88-55-1 mark in 14 years there.
Then he retired, but Hauck — then at Boone — called asking for help.
“I doubt I would have come back for anybody else, but we're great friends and I couldn't say no,” Murphy said.
Even after Hauck retired in 1997, Murphy remained to help first-year coach Rick Thompson.
“The kids love him,” Thompson said. “And on top of that, he's so knowledgeable football-wise, he has been an invaluable asset to coach Hauck and myself.”
Former players recall how Murphy would drop whatever he was doing to help them. Many requests were simply pick-up basketball games.
“He would always win,” Mueller said. “You couldn't beat him.”
Murphy remains active, playing golf, softball, touch football and basketball. And coaching.
“I really enjoy being with the kids,” he said. “As long as I enjoy it, I'll keep doing it.”
LORENZEN HEADS ALL-STARS: The East-West game is the last chance locally to see Mr. Football Jared Lorenzen, the Highlands quarterback. His final high school game will be the Kentucky-Tennessee all-star game June 18 in Knoxville.
The East, coached by Newport Central Catholic's Bob Schneider, will include players from Bellevue, Campbell County, Covington Catholic, Dayton, Dixie Heights, Highlands, Holmes, Newport and NewCath. The West, coached by Scott's Jeff McCarthy, consists of Beechwood, Boone, Conner, Holy Cross, Lloyd, Ludlow, Ryle, Scott and Simon Kenton.
Tickets are $4 for adults and $2 for students, with proceeds benefiting area charities.
ALL-STAR SCHEDULE: The rest of the senior all-star series: basketball, 6p.m. (girls) and 7:30p.m. (boys) Tuesday at Holmes; volleyball, 7p.m. Wednesday at Beechwood; and baseball, 7:30p.m. June 14 at Meinken Field.
HALL OF FAMERS: Bill Krumpelbeck and the late Jim Connor are among 14 men elected to the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Krumpelbeck has won six Ninth Region titles in 23 years at Covington Catholic. Connor coached at Boone County and NewCath before joining the collegiate ranks at Thomas More. The Class of 1999 will be inducted at the state convention in Louisville in January.
FITNESS CAMPS: Fitness guru Dave Guidugli will hold three summer strength and conditioning camps.
A camp for athletes entering grades 8-12, meeting three to four times weekly, begins Monday and concludes Aug.7. A five-days-a-week camp for college football, basketball and soccer players begins Wednesday and concludes Aug.7. Both are $375.
A camp for athletes ages 10-18 will run June 28-July 1 (9a.m.-3p.m. daily) for $135; register by June 15. For info or registration in any camp, call Guidugli at 441-0958.
NKU CAMP: Northern Kentucky University will conduct boys basketball camps June 14-18 and June 28-July 2, with a specialty skills camp July 12-16. Boys in grades 3-12 are welcome. Cost is $115. For info or registration, call 572-6539.
RIVERHAWKS CAMPS: The Cincinnati Riverhawks will conduct three youth soccer camps in Northern Kentucky: June 14-18 at Town & Country Sport Complex in Wilder, June 21-25 at Town & Country, and June 28-July 2 at a site to be announced in Fort Wright.
There are four different age and ability levels with varying costs. Call 942-SOAR for details.
Neil Schmidt is The Enquirer's Northern Kentucky sports reporter. Send e-mail to nschmidt@enquirer.com
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