Waynes Word -The Best Of.

Shootin the Breeze with Murph

How many guys can honestly say, in the course of a 90 minute
conversation, that they got dunked on by Wilt Chamberlain, and
hit against the Major League great Juan Marichal, or at least tried to?
How many white guys in upstate New York can honestly say that
they played against college teams featuring future Celtic Hall-of-Famer
Bill Russell (while at University of San Francisco), or current Utah Jazz
announcer Hot Rod Hundley (at West Virginia), or later LA Dodger
first baseman Frank Howard (a 6?8” hulk for Ohio State)? How many
Albany-bred white brothers from 5 decades back can say they ever
scored 49 points in an NCAA Division 1 game? Or still hold their
High school?s career scoring record 50 years after they put up the
numbers?

There's only one guy that fits the description, far as I know,
and he has lived in Saratoga over 34 years now, and the guy?s
name is Bob Murphy. The local school where he set that record
is CBA of Albany, and you could look it up. He went on to play
at Manhattan, starting Varsity for his soph-thru-senior years-- on
a squad that at one time was ranked as high as seventh in the nation.
Lest you think this gentleman is they type that likes to brag
about his past in an effusive manner, let me say that I knew Bob
through a real estate transaction a few years back, when I had his
in-town home listed and got it sold, but never heard a word about
his prior accomplishments during that time. We talked hoop a bit,
and I knew he had both coached at Saratoga High and been Athletic
Director a while back…but hadn?t heard of his playing history. I
would see him at virtually every local high school game I attended.
We?d grin and wave, but it wasn?t till running into him at a Summer
League game at Skidmore College recently that I got to hear a whole
lot of local hoop lore that puts most raconteurs to shame…

In Search of Some Game
My wife was up at Lake George with the kids and her sister
while I had to work a few appointments that day, even though it was
Opening Day at the Racetrack, which signals a permission slip in
Saratoga if you want to take the day off. Normally Miles would be itching to go with me to see some Summer hoop, because Wednesday is the Skidmore League, with multiple-court action. If he was around, however, he'd be at Gavin Park anyway, at the Andre Duncan camp going on there. But his Florida cousins Gabrielle and Lexi are up here visiting very often, and he is very fond of that kind of family time, so he made the right choice. Meanwhile, I got a night off from shuttle-bus duty and family obligation, and it felt unusual NOT to be booked with something to do.
There is zero hoop on TV this time of year, and the NBA summer league
stuff that I ordered on Inside Ticket (streaming video, but better than nothing)
was not being broadcast though there are games being played in the Utah
Summer Run. It had rained too much for outdoor ball, so what's a hoop freak to do? Exactly. I decided I'm going to Skidmore by myself to see some games. On a quick real estate scouting trip to check the next day's bait, so to speak, I circled up past Porter Corners and back to Town; by then I'd missed the first set of games. The Blue Streaks entry was already sweaty and resting in-between games. There were nondescript teams playing at the far 2 courts, and no one on the court closest to the
bleachers. Overall, there were more adults than I've seen at some Skidmore
Varsity games, but they were spread all over the gym, 3 courts wide. Diehard
fans, or at least diehard parents of hopeful players. I didn't know too many
people there, being that many of them were from places like Mayfield,
Johnstown, Hoosic Valley, Granville, and Fonda-Fultonville. In a small batch of Spa Catholic supporters, however, someone said “Hey Wayne…how’s it goin’?
It was Bob Murphy, sitting kind of off by himself, in-between games his son Jim was helping to coach. His grandchildren, daughters, daughters-in-law, friends, hoop buddies, and well-wishers came and went while we were talking, but he managed to give me a pretty detailed straight-line chronicle of his own hoop passion, from the playgrounds of Arbor Hill in Albany, to becoming a territorial draft choice for the
KNICKS after his senior season at Manhattan.
What started the trip down memory lane for him was that I happened to mention that I'd seen the Saratoga Varsity Summer Team play down at Hoffman Park (South End of Albany, up on the Hill near the end of 787, where it meets 9W) the week before,
but that I?d been more impressed by CBA than any other team I saw there.
That kid Monahan’s the real deal, Bob-- you seen him yet? Lefthand
power jam one minute, pop from the deep corner next minute just for the fun
of it.
Yeah, I saw him in the Sectionals last year. Y’know I’m supposed to go
to my 50 th Reunion down at CBA this year-- y’believe that…50 years! And I
still hold the career scoring record down at CBA, though they tell me that
Monahan is probably the one who’s gonna break it this year…
That CBA team back in the „fifties must have been a monster
Squad. How many High School Teams these days feature 2 guys going to
Prominent Division 1 Colleges? Bob told me how his Albany buddy Joe
Morelli first talked about them staying together and going to the same
D-1 Program, but then Bob matriculated to Manhattan-- “y?know, to be
In the Big City, where the action was…” while Joe Morelli chose to go to
Notre Dame.
The closest modern equivalent locally might be the Schenectady High
Teams of 2000 (with James Thomas of current U. of Texas fame) & Jason
MacKrieth (at Rice University now), as well as the 2001 Team which
featured both MacKrieth & Rayshaun Freeman, due to make his
big time college debut at U. Mass this fall.)
((Note: The current CBA roster may hold a few D-1 Prospects, as well.
In addition to Monahan, Josh Duell has a chance, as has Datwan Hemingway,
Joe Bova, and reported import Emmanuel Mayben (leaving Troy High), who would
put the Brothers over-the-top talent-wise this year, if the chemistry works…!))
Murph went on to tell me what it was like to practice daily
at the old Madison Square Garden, sharing court time in between
Fordham?s Varsity, and the NY Knicks themselves. He talked about how
Rough NY City street ball was, where if you called a foul on the playgrounds
it was taken as a sign of weakness, no matter how hard and obvious the
foul was. “You learned to get up off the pavement and give it back to
them on the other end. Most college kids weren?t ready for that kind of
contact.”
There have been some observers of the hoop scene who think that,
in recent years, the flagrant fouls and physical play are getting out-of-hand,
but Murph seems to scoff at that notion. “It?s no worse than it ever was--
That?s City ball. If they can intimidate you, they will.”
He also claimed that his college coach turned the program around
at Manhattan with an emphasis on aggressive defense above all else. “He
wasn?t impressed when you scored, but he?d lay into you at the other end
if your man scored on you.” Murph carried on that tradition when he got
the coaching job at Saratoga High in the „60?s, turning around a moribund
program with a fast-paced switching man-to-man and trapping press.
“Who were the best players you?ve seen at Saratoga High in
all your years of coaching and watching games??” I asked him.
He thought about it and started ticking off names: “Sonny
Gooden, of course. Jimmy Parker, Timmy Parker. The Long Brothers.”
Then he starts free-associating: “I had one team back then where there said
I was the first coach to put a starting five of 4 black guys & a Coon,” he
laughed, quickly explaining that Dean Coon, a local attorney these days,
was the one white guy among Varsity starters that year. Only a jovial
white coach who grew up in Arbor Hill (Albany) could make a joke like
that without being perceived as racist.

“Then you had guys like Pete Philo, Danny Tallman (a local fireman
now), and Dan Mullen (on the local Police force)-- they were all pretty good, too.”
As we were watching the summer league games played out in somewhat sloppy
fashion on three parallel courts, I could tell that, in the manner of the old school
Coaches of the past, Murph wasn?t too impressed with most modern Hoopers,
granting tepid respect to only a few. The moves and antics of the And 1 generation
do nothing to impress him if they don?t result in a hoop for your team.
“This (Kyle) Stevens kid, he?s all right. But he goes nowhere with this
behind-the-back dribble crap, it?s all for show. And he settles for the fifteen foot
jumper when he should be slashing to the hoop. He?s big enough, he should be goin? inside.”
I noted that he?s only going to be a sophomore this year, and was
looking like the most talented player on the Spa Catholic Varsity already. “This
Kid?s on track to be as dominant as Cory Carson, don?t ya think, Bob?” I asked him.
Murph kinda shrugged and said “We?ll see.”
We spoke briefly about some of the kids who had gone the wrong
way after (or during) their years of Stardom, including the story of Pete Philo and
more recently, Richie Balkonis. Both were high school stars who ran into legal
issues-- the former years after his high school days, the latter while he was still
in school and shortly thereafter. Murph knew both kids and just shook his head.
The talk turned to his post-college days, when he was selected by
the Knicks, but was unfortunately hit by a crazy driver in a car as he was boarding
a bus, and landed in the hospital with back and leg injuries, effectively killing
his chance at a tryout in preseason. After his recovery he was playing semi-pro
with other recent collegians against the Globetrotters at the old Convention Center
In Saratoga Springs (where the current Broadway YMCA is now), when Wilt Chamberlain performed a dunk on Murph that ended up on the back page of a NYC tabloid.

Since he was still involved in a lawsuit against the driver of the wayward car that
put him in the hospital, his case was not helped at the time by the fact that he
had recovered enough to go up against the great Wilt. “Once they brought that
picture to court, I had to settle cheap,” Murph admitted.
Bob also played some serious baseball in college, and at one point
confessed that appearing in an exhibition game against a San Francisco farmhand named Juan Marichal was enough to convince him he was going to make it to the majors. “That big leg kick, and that wicked curve, forget it.” A lot of big leaguers later came to the same conclusion. His daughter-in-law finally convinced him it was time for his ride home after that story…

With a guy like Murph, pushing 70 now, I could talk hoop &
local history all night long, simply by planting a few leading questions and letting
him monologue. He, like many his age, is a great repository of information that
many youngbloods neglect or ignore. But next time you see an eminent grey-haired,
bespectacled guy climbing out of the bleachers with a slight limp at a Varsity game,
just realize that the guy might?ve scored more than you ever will, 50 years ago.
Take care, Murph, and thanks for the chat.