Mike Murphy (trainer and coach)

Mike Murphy
Mike Murphy, illustration from 1913 obituary in The Philadelphia Inquirer
Born
Michael Charles Murphy

(1860-02-26)February 26, 1860
Southboro, Massachusetts, U.S.,[1] or Westboro, Massachusetts,[2] U.S.
DiedJune 4, 1913(1913-06-04) (aged 53)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Years active1886–1913
Known forTrack coach, athletic trainer, football coach
Spouse
Nora Long
​
(m. 1892)​
Children3, including George

Michael Charles Murphy (February 26, 1860 – June 4, 1913) was an American athletic trainer and coach at Yale University (1887–1889, 1892–1896, 1901–1905), Detroit Athletic Club (1889–1892), University of Michigan (1891), Villanova University (1894), University of Pennsylvania (1896–1901, 1905–1913), and the New York Athletic Club (1890–1900). He coached the American track athletes at the Summer Olympics in 1900, 1908, and 1912. He spent a year in approximately 1884 as the trainer of heavyweight boxing champion John L. Sullivan.

The Washington Post in 1913 called Murphy "the father of American track athletics."[3] He was considered the premier athletic trainer of his era and was said to have "revolutionized the methods of training athletes and reduced it to a science."[1] He is credited with establishing many innovative techniques for track and field, including the crouching start for sprinters.[2]

  1. ^ a b "'Mike' Murphy, Noted Trainer, Passes Away". The Philadelphia Inquirer. June 5, 1913. p. 10. Retrieved April 11, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Penn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Mike Murphy Stood Alone as Developer of Athletes". The Washington Post. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. June 8, 1913. p. 2. Retrieved April 11, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.