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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 feet
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
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
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