MONTREAL — It is with deep sadness that McGill Athletics & Recreation announces the passing of former football player and assistant coach Ron Murphy on Oct. 20, 2020. He was 88.
A 6-foot-2, 210-pound offensive lineman in the Canadian Football League, he played with Hamilton (1953-1955) and Montreal (1958-1961) and was a member of the Tiger Cats Grey Cup championship team in 1953.
Murphy was a coach on the 1962 Yates Cup championship team that was inducted to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. Three years earlier, he was inducted as a builder to U of T’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Born Ronald Cornelius Murphy in Hamilton, Ont., on June 13, 1932, Murphy was initially signed by his hometown Ti-Cats right out of high school. In 1955, he enrolled as a physical education student at McGill University, where he played three seasons before graduating with a bachelor’s of science degree in the spring of 1958. He returned to the CFL gridiron that fall after being drafted fourth overall by the Alouettes.
Upon retiring from the CFL, he joined head coach Bill Bewley‘s staff at McGill and helped guide the team to the Yates Cup league tite in 1962. Murphy later moved on to a coaching stint with the Alouettes before joining the Toronto Varsity Blues coaching staff in 1965, when the team won the inaugural Vanier Cup national championship. He spent 17 seasons (1966-1982) as U of T’s head coach and still stands as the Blues’ all-time leader in career coaching victories (93).
Under his guidance, the Blues won league titles in 1967 and 1974, and posted only one losing season. He was named the CIAU coach of the year in 1974, when Toronto was Vanier Cup finalists and guided the squad to a U of T single-season record for victories (10), which stood until 1993.
After stepping down as head coach in 1983, Murphy undertook several administrative duties within U of T’s department of athletics. He returned to the sidelines as an assistant coach from 1986 to 1993, winning his second Vanier Cup in 1993. At the inaugural OUAA Football Legends dinner in 1993, he received the league’s prestigious John S. McManus Award in recognition of his coaching contributions to university sport. The following year, he received one of U of T’s most prestigious athletic honours, the Thomas L. Loudon Award, which is presented to truly exceptional individuals for outstanding services in the advancement of athletics at the university.
“Murph really cared for his players,” said Dave Copp, a teammate at McGill and an assistant coach with the Blues from 1968 ro 1981. “[One] example of many were when most teams were teaching the butt block, initiating contact with the head, Murph taught the drive block, initiating contact with the hands thus protecting the head from repeated blows. Coaching with Murph was a great privilege.”
He is survived by daughter Paula, sons Greg (Poet) and Duff (Melissa), and grandchildren Jordan, Matthew, Caleb, and Maya.
A memorial service is scheduled for Oct. 31, from 3-4 p.m., in Ajax, Ont. Condolences may be left online at the McEachnie Funeral Home website.
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