This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Cal Murphy" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Cal Murphy (March 12, 1932 – February 18, 2012) was aCanadian football coach, general manager and scout, most notably for theWinnipeg Blue Bombers of theCanadian Football League. In his career as a coach and/or general manager, he led various teams to nineGrey Cup championships, earning a spot in theCanadian Football Hall of Fame. In his retirement years he spent some time as ascout for theIndianapolis Colts of theNational Football League.

Murphy, one of seven children, was born inWinnipeg,Manitoba in 1932. His father, William Murphy, a senior executive withCoca-Cola, moved the family toVancouver. He attendedVancouver College, a K-12 independent Catholic school for boys served by theCongregation of Christian Brothers in British Columbia, where he was a football standout. He then starred with theUniversity of British Columbia Thunderbirds as a left-handedquarterback anddefensive back, and played a brief stint with theBritish Columbia Lions of the CFL in 1956. Murphy then turned to education, returning to Vancouver College and taking over the reins as head coach in 1960–61. He led the Fighting Irish to their only undefeated season. He pursued his master's degree while an assistant coach atEastern Washington University under head coach Dave Holmes. Murphy followed Holmes to the University of Hawaii Rainbows, and became part of the most successful coaching tenure in Hawaii history. (From 1968 to 1974, UH won 67 percent of its games and never suffered a losing season.) In 1973, Murphy left Hawaii for theSan Jose State Spartans under head coachDarryl Rogers.

• 
  U. of Hawaii coaching staff ca 1968

Cal Murphy joined the CFL coaching ranks in1974 with theBC Lions under head coachEagle Keys, and became head coach after game six in the1975 season. He was fired after the1976 season,^[1] and moved on to spend the1977Grey Cupchampionship season in Montreal with theAlouettes under head coachMarv Levy. In1978, he took the job asoffensive line coach with theEdmonton Eskimos under head coachHugh Campbell, and from 1978 through1982, Edmonton won a record five consecutive Grey Cup championships with the talents of football greats such asTom Wilkinson,Larry Highbaugh, andWarren Moon.

In1983, Murphy was hired by Paul Robson of theWinnipeg Blue Bombers and spent 14 years as head coach and general manager. He developed a reputation for finding top talent, and developed one of the most feared defenses in CFL history with the likes ofTyrone Jones,James "Wild" West, andAaron Brown. In a controversial move, he traded away strong-armed and popular starting QBDieter Brock to theHamilton Tiger-Cats for the smarts of lesser known QBTom Clements. Although Clements would suffer a season-ending collarbone injury, and the Bombers would lose in the1983 Western Final to the BC Lions, they would crush the Brock-led Tiger-Cats in1984 by a score of 47–17 in a frigidGrey Cup inEdmonton, bringing the city of Winnipeg its first Grey Cup in 22 years.

Murphy was awarded theAnnis Stukus Trophy for Coach of the Year in 1983 and 1984. The Blue Bombers appeared in five Grey Cups under his tenure as GM and head coach, winning three in 1984,1988,1990. He earned a reputation for his often cantankerous personality. He was an outspoken opponent ofCFL expansion to the United States, believing it put a risk to the uniqueness of the Canadian game, and challenged the goodwill relationship long-maintained with theNFL. He finished up his CFL career in Regina with theSaskatchewan Roughriders from1997 to1999. In 2000, he coached with theFrankfurt Galaxy inNFL Europe, followed by a brief stint withChicago Enforcers in theXFL. Murphy was elected into theCanadian Football Hall of Fame in 2004, and was a scout for theSuper Bowl ChampionIndianapolis Colts at the time of his death.

After suffering heart attacks in 1978 and 1985, in 1992 Murphy underwent emergency heart bypass surgery that kept him alive before being saved by a last-second donor and successful heart transplant surgery. In January 1993, theGovernor General of Canada presented Cal Murphy with the125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal in recognition of the significant contribution to compatriots, community and to Canada. His eldest son, Mike, is a scout with the NFL'sNew York Giants, and son-in-law,Sammy Garza, is a scout with the NFL'sDallas Cowboys. He had seven children: Carol, Mike, Barbara, Erin, Shannon, Brian and Kelly.

Cal Murphy died inRegina, Saskatchewan on February 18, 2012, aged 79.^[2]

• 1932 births
• 2012 deaths
• BC Lions coaches
• BC Lions players
• Edmonton Elks coaches
• Frankfurt Galaxy coaches
• Saskatchewan Roughriders coaches
• UBC Thunderbirds football players
• Winnipeg Blue Bombers coaches
• Winnipeg Blue Bombers general managers
• San Francisco Demons coaches
• Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
• Canadian football people from Vancouver
• Canadian football people from Winnipeg
• Players of Canadian football from British Columbia
• Players of Canadian football from Manitoba
• Canadian sportspeople of Irish descent
• Vancouver College alumni

• CS1 maint: archived copy as title
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from February 2012
• All articles needing additional references
• Use mdy dates from September 2011
• Pages using infobox Canadian Football League biography with military parameters