Calvin Jerome Murphy (born May 9, 1948) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player who after a prolific collegiate career at

Niagara Niagara may refer to: Geography Niagara Falls and nearby places In both the United States and Canada *Niagara Falls, the famous waterfalls in the Niagara River *Niagara River, part of the U.S.–Canada border *Niagara Escarpment, the cliff ov ...

, where he averaged 33.1 points per game over his three years, played in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

as a guard for the San Diego/Houston Rockets from 1970 to 1983. He is a currently a member of the Houston Rockets' AT&T SportsNet TV broadcast team. Standing at a height of , Murphy has the distinction of being the shortest NBA player inducted into the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

, and to play in an NBA All-Star Game (the latter since tied by Isaiah Thomas in 2016).

Early years

Before basketball, Calvin Murphy was a world-class baton twirler. He says he was "bullied into it" as his mother and all six of her sisters were twirlers. As an 8th grader, in 1963, he won a national championship in baton twirling. His reputation as a twirler earned him invitations to perform at major sporting events and the 1964 New York World's Fair. In 1977, at the height of his basketball career in Houston, Murphy won the Texas State Men's Twirling Championship. He played basketball for Norwalk High School, where he was All-State three times and All-America twice. He is a member of the Connecticut Coaches Association Hall of Fame and a Connecticut Sportswriters Gold Key Award winner. Norwalk High School's address is now 23 Calvin Murphy Rd. in his honor.

College (1967–1970)

Murphy attended

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. Appro ...

, where he was a three-time All-American. He scored 2,548 points in 77 games (33.1 points per game). One of his best games was a 68-point outing against Syracuse University at Niagara's Gallagher Center. In 1970, he led Niagara to the NCAA tournament and advanced to the second round, where they lost to Villanova. During his career he was famous for being one of "The Three M's", along with Pete Maravich and Rick Mount, both of whom were NCAA Men's Division I Basketball All-Americans at the same time as Murphy. Murphy is a member of the Alpha Nu Omega chapter of the

Iota Phi Theta Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded on September 19, 1963, at Morgan State University (then Morgan State College) in Baltimore, Maryland, and is currently the 5th largest Black Greek Le ...

fraternity, being initiated alongside fellow future Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes.

NBA (1970–1983)

Murphy was drafted by the San Diego Rockets (now the Houston Rockets) as the first pick in the second round (18th overall) of the 1970 NBA draft. In his first season, after averaging 15.8 points and 4 assists per game, Murphy was nominated to the NBA All-Rookie team. A diminutive guard at , Murphy was known for his quickness and defensive ability. During the

1975 NBA Playoffs The 1975 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1974–75 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors defeating the Eastern Conference champion Washin ...

, Murphy averaged a postseason career-high of 24.4 points and 5.6 assists per game, as the Rockets advanced past the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

in the first round (Houston was in the Eastern Conference at the time), before being eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the semifinals. Two seasons later, on March 18, 1978, Murphy set a career high with 57 points scored during a 106–104 loss to the New Jersey Nets. The following year, he earned his only All-Star selection. During the

1980-81 NBA season __NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab u ...

, Murphy played a key role in the Rockets making it to the NBA Finals. That postseason run, on April 17, 1981, Murphy led the Rockets to a decisive Western Conference Semifinals Game 7 win over the San Antonio Spurs with 42 points, a postseason career high. After advancing past the Kansas City Kings in the conference finals, in the 1981 NBA Finals Murphy and the Rockets lost to the Boston Celtics in a six-game series. Murphy retired in 1983. Murphy was one of the best free-throw shooters in league history, setting NBA records for most consecutive free throws made and for the highest free throw percentage in a single season (1980–1981), though both records have since been broken. He set many other records within the Rockets organization, including that of all-time leading scorer until that record was broken in 1994 by

Hakeem Olajuwon Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon (; ; born January 21, 1963), nicknamed "the Dream", is a Nigerian Americans, Nigerian-American former professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Ass ...

. Despite being among the shortest players in the league, Murphy was considered to be an "enforcer" due to his physical playing style and willingness to confront other players for hard fouls. Murphy was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.

Post-NBA life

After retirement, Murphy continued to work for the Rockets organization in numerous roles, mainly as television analyst for Rockets games. He is currently the halftime and post-game analyst for local Rockets broadcasts on AT&T SportsNet. In 2004, he faced trial in Houston for sexually abusing five of his daughters. He was acquitted of these charges in December of that year. He hosted ''The Calvin Murphy Show'' on ESPN Radio's Houston affiliate from 2007 until its cancellation in January 2010.

Statistics and accomplishments

*Inducted to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993 *Jersey #23 retired by the Houston Rockets *Second highest Free Throw Percentage in a Season – 206 of 215 (95.8%) in 1980–81 *NBA Consecutive Free Throws Made – 3rd, 78 (December 27, 1980 – February 28, 1981) *NBA All-Rookie Team: 1971 *NBA All-Star Team: 1979 *Games played; 1,002 *Career points: 17,949 (17.9 points per game) *Career steals: 1,165 *Career assists: 4,402 (4.4 apg) *Career high points: 57 (against New Jersey Nets- March 18, 1978) *Career playoff high: 42 (against San Antonio Spurs- April 17, 1981) *1000-point seasons: 11

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", San Diego , 82 , , – , , 24.6 , , .458 , , – , , .820 , , 3.0 , , 4.0 , , – , , – , , 15.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

, 82 , , – , , 31.0 , , .455 , , – , , .890 , , 3.1 , , 4.8 , , – , , – , , 18.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 77 , , – , , 22.0 , , .465 , , – , , .888 , , 1.9 , , 3.4 , , – , , – , , 13.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , – , , 36.1 , , .522 , , – , , .868 , , 2.3 , , 7.4 , , 1.9 , , .0 , , 20.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 78 , , – , , 32.2 , , .484 , , – , , .883 , , 2.2 , , 4.9 , , 1.6 , , .1 , , 18.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , – , , 36.5 , , .493 , , – , , .907 , , 2.5 , , 7.3 , , 1.8 , , .1 , , 21.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , – , , 33.7 , , .490 , , – , , .886 , , 2.1 , , 4.7 , , 1.8 , , .1 , , 17.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 76 , , – , , 38.2 , , .491 , , – , , .918 , , 2.2 , , 3.4 , , 1.5 , , .0 , , 25.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , – , , 35.9 , , .496 , , – , , .928 , , 2.1 , , 4.3 , , 1.4 , , .1 , , 20.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 76 , , – , , 35.2 , , .493 , , .040 , , .897 , , 2.0 , , 3.9 , , 1.9 , , .1 , , 20.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 76 , , – , , 26.5 , , .492 , , .235 , , style="background:#cfecec;", .958*, , 1.1 , , 2.9 , , 1.5 , , .1 , , 16.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 64 , , 0 , , 18.8 , , .427 , , .063 , , .909 , , 1.0 , , 2.5 , , .7 , , .0 , , 10.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 64 , , 0 , , 22.2 , , .447 , , .286 , , .920 , , 1.2 , , 2.5 , , .9 , , .1 , , 12.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 1,002 , , – , , 30.5 , , .482 , , .139 , , .892 , , 2.1 , , 4.4 , , 1.5 , , .1 , , 17.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", All-Star , 1 , , 0 , , 15.0 , , .600 , , – , , – , , 1.0 , , 5.0 , , 2.0 , , .0 , , 6.0

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1975 , style="text-align:left;”,

, 8, , –, , 38.1, , .462, , –, , .895, , 2.4, , 5.6, , 1.8, , .1, , 24.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1977 , style="text-align:left;”,

, 12, , –, , 35.0, , .479, , –, , .933, , 1.6, , 6.3, , 1.6, , .2, , 19.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1979 , style="text-align:left;”,

, 2, , –, , 36.5, , .290, , –, , .889, , 1.5, , 3.0, , 4.0, , .5, , 13.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1980 , style="text-align:left;”,

, 7, , –, , 37.9, , .537, , .500, , 1.000, , 1.4, , 3.7, , 1.6, , .0, , 18.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1981 , style="text-align:left;”,

, 19, , –, , 28.4, , .495, , .286, , .967, , 1.3, , 3.0, , 1.4, , .0, , 18.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1982 , style="text-align:left;”,

, 3, , –, , 19.0, , .227, , .000, , .875, , 1.0, , 1.3, , .3, , .0, , 5.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 51 , , – , , 32.5 , , .475 , , .286 , , .932 , , 1.5 , , 4.2 , , 1.5 , , .1 , , 18.5

References

External links

NBA.com: Calvin Murphy Bio
– Murphy's NBA bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Calvin 1948 births Living people African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Connecticut Houston Rockets assistant coaches Houston Rockets players Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Basketball Association All-Stars National Basketball Association broadcasters National Basketball Association players with retired numbers National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Niagara Purple Eagles men's basketball players Norwalk High School (Connecticut) alumni Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Point guards San Diego Rockets draft picks San Diego Rockets players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Norwalk, Connecticut 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople