Charles Carroll "Stretch" Murphy (April 10, 1907 – August 17, 1992) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played competitive

at Marion High School (1922–26), located in

Marion, Indiana Marion is a city in and the county seat of Grant County, Indiana, United States, along the Mississinewa River. The population was 28,310 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is named for Francis Marion, a brigadier general from ...

. The All-State player led his school to the Indiana state championship in 1926 during his senior year. He was recruited by men's head coach, Ward Lambert, at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, where he played for three varsity seasons (from 1927 to 1930). Scoring 137 points (11.4 ppg), he teamed with fellow Hall of Famer

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...

and co-captain Glen Harmeson, to lead the Boilers to the Big 10 championship in 1930 after an undefeated season in conference play (10–0). He set a new Big 10 scoring record for a season in 1929 with 143 points (11.9 ppg) and led Purdue to a 53–13 overall record during his tenure. Murphy was named a Consensus All-American in both his junior and senior years and to the All-time All-American team. After graduating from Purdue, Murphy played for the American Basketball League's Chicago Bruins and the independent Indianapolis Kautskys. Murphy was one of the game's first true big men. At , he was an insurmountable force on both ends of the court. He was inducted into the

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 ...

in 1960 and the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1963. Murphy died on August 17, 1992, at age 85.

References

External links

Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame profileNaismith Basketball Hall of Fame profile
1907 births 1992 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Indiana Centers (basketball) Chicago Bruins players Indianapolis Kautskys players Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees People from Marion, Indiana Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players {{1900s-US-basketball-bio-stub