He served as the head football coach at Middle Tennessee State University from 1947 to 1968, compiling a record of 155–63–8.
The Murphy Center, an athletic facility at Middle Tennessee State, was named in his honor when it was completed in 1972.
[1][2] Murphy lettered in football, baseball, basketball, and tennis at Middle Tennessee.
He then played professional baseball in the minor league system of the New York Giants.
Murphy died of cancer, on January 31, 1999, at the Alvin C. York Veterans Administration Medical Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.