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Guide to the Bob Murphy Oral History and Background Material
SC1007
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Call Number: SC1007
Creator:
Murphy, Bob.
Title: Bob Murphy oral history and background material
Dates: 1997-2007
Physical Description:
0.5 linear foot (3 folders and 8 audiocassettes)
Summary: The materials consist of an oral history, background material,
news clippings, a short biography, and an article on baseball on the radio.
Language(s): The materials are in English.
Repository:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Stanford University Libraries
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: speccollref@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/spc.html
Open for research use.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University
Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent is
given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not
intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission
must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Bob Murphy Oral History and Background Material (SC1007). Dept. of Special
Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford,
Calif.
Bob Murphy was a Stanford guy from the very beginning. Born at Stanford Hospital in
1931, he grew up in Burlingame where his grandfather was the first City clerk and their
old family home was the seventh house built.
Showing early signs of the young rebel he would soon be, Bob left Burlingame every day
to attend and ultimately graduate from San Mateo High School. On his way he would pass
by Burlingame High School, and wouldn’t you know it, by his senior year it was the San
Mateo Bearcats beating the Burlingame Panthers for the Baseball Championship of the
Peninsula Athletic League.
Bob went on to Stanford University where he graduated in four years. In his senior
season of 1953, he helped pitch Stanford to its first ever appearance in the College
World Series.
He signed a professional baseball contract with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast
League and beat the Portland Beavers 3-2 on the day he signed his first contract. He
enjoyed three years in professional baseball, two of them on championship teams.
As a young developer, Bob, with the help of Stanford swim coach Tom Haynie, brought the
National AAU Swimming and Diving Championship to Fremont Hills Country Club in Los Altos
Hills. He then went on to become a traveling consultant for the development and
operation of Almaden, Palo Alto Hills, Sharon Heights Country Club, Butte Creek Country
Club in Chico, and a golf and recreational development by Standard Oil in Orange
County.
In 1962 when Chuck Taylor became Athletic Director at Stanford, he brought Bob back to
"The Farm" as Manager of Athletic Relations. In the season of 1964 while at Notre Dame
during a practice session, Don Klein asked Bob if he might like to sit in with him for
the game broadcast the next day. Don was Stanford's very popular football announcer and
had been the broadcaster for the San Francisco Seals when Bob played for Oakland. Bob
sat in that day and would continue a career in front of a microphone for the next 43
years, longer than anyone else in PAC-10 history.
Murphy took over the role of Sports Information Director at Stanford in 1965 and
remained in that position until 1974 when he left to help save the East/West Shrine
Game. He was successful in moving the game to Stanford, where it remained for 25
years.
But Murph's real trademark is the stories, anecdotes and humor shared with generations
of fans listening to his broadcasts or events he has emceed. Stanford coaches have
always been fair game during a microphone session with Murph. Both the late Bill Walsh
("ladies and gentlemen, I present the Pontiff") and Mike Montgomery ("Mike, you need to
play the Stanford course backward so you can get to know the other side of the fairway")
frequently got the razz treatment. Murph would weave in stories of Stanford professors,
locker room speeches, famous Stanford athletes of the past. A history major, Murph would
talk about how the late Professor Tom Bailey would corner him in class to offer advice
about pitching curve balls to Cal hitters.
Sources: San Jose Sports Authority Hall of Fame
2009
Stanford Alumni Magazine
(November/December 2007)
The materials consist of an oral history, background material, news clippings, a short
biography, and an article on baseball on the radio.
Nilan, Roxanne
Athletics
Coaches (Athletics)--United States.
College athletes.
Football--Big Game--Athletics