Calvin Jerome Murphy, or popularly known as Calvin Murphy, is a retired professional basketball player who used to be the Houston Rockets’ point guard from 1970 to 1983. Calvin Murphy is the shortest NBA player to ever play in an NBA All-Star Game and be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. In this article, we are going to know more about the career of Calvin Murphy.
Early Life
Before Calvin Murphy got interested in basketball, he used to be a world-class baton twirler. Back then, he said that he was just “bullied into it” because all of his six sisters, as well as his mother, were all twirlers. When he was in 8th grade, Murphy won a national championship in baton twirling. His exceptional talent as a twirler gained him invitations to perform at several major sporting events as well as in the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Murphy played basketball at Norwalk High School, where he became All-State three times and All-America twice.
Career
College Career
Calvin Murphy attended Niagara University, where he became a three-time All-American and managed to score 2,548 points in 77 games (33.1 points per game). In 1970, Murphy helped Niagara reach the NCAA tournament, where they managed to advance to the second round, but they eventually lose to Villanova. During his college basketball career, Calvin Murphy was known for being one of “The Three M’s”, along with Rick Mount and Pete Maravich. The three of them were all NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball All-Americans.
When he was in college, Murphy was a member of the Alpha Nu Omega chapter of the Iota Phi Theta fraternity. He was initiated with fellow future Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes.
NBA Career
During the 1970 NBA Draft, the San Diego Rockets decided to draft Murphy as their first pick in the second round. In his first season in the NBA, Calvin Murphy was nominated to the NBA All-Rookie team. Murphy is 5 feet 9 inches tall; that is why he is known for his quickness and defensive ability while he was in the court.
Murphy was known to be one of the NBA’s best free-throw shooters ever. He set NBA records for most consecutive free throws ever made. Aside from that, he also has the highest free throw percentage done in a single season, which was in 1980–1981. Both of these records have since been broken. Throughout his career with the Houston Rockets, Murphy also managed to set several other records, including being an all-time leading scorer. However, Hakeem Olajuwon later broke a record in 1994.
In 1983, Calvin Murphy announced he would be retiring from the NBA after having a very fruitful career. Ten years after that, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The Houston Rocket’s PR department even compiled a fact-filled, nine-page release which tells all about Calvin Murphy’s exceptional credentials.
Post-NBA Career
After he retired from playing basketball, Murphy continued to work for the Rockets organization, adapting to different roles, such as being the television analyst for Rockets games. Murphy is currently the post-game and half-time game analyst for local Rockets broadcasts.
In 2007, Calvin Murphy was lucky enough to be given his own show entitled “The Calvin Murphy Show,” which aired on ESPN Radio’s Houston affiliate from 2007 until January 2010.
