GLADEWATER’S MURPHY HONORED | Inducted into THSCA’s Hall of Honor

Gladewater football fans are preparing for the 2024 season, and they’ll be pleased to know that arguably the greatest Bear of all was honored this past weekend as one of the newest members of the Texas High School Coaches Association’s Hall of Honor.

That’s right: coach Jack V. Murphy, who led the Gladewater program for 32 years, was honored as one of the inductees into the THSCA’s Hall of Honor this year, along with San Antonio-area football coaching legend Lee Bridges; Chris Koetting, a coach at Canadian, in the Texas Panhandle, who won three state championships and is considered by many to be maybe the best coach ever in the Panhandle region; 40-year coaching veteran Mel Mayfield, who won over 250 games at stops at places like Forney and Amarillo; and Ken Cook, who led Southlake Carroll to a state baseball championship in 1982, a state basketball championship in 1993, and was the defensive coordinator for the football program for state championships in 1988, ’92 and 93.

Murphy, of course, needs no introduction to fans in East Texas, as he led the Bears for so long.

But it’s been a while, and possibly that younger fans are not as well acquainted with what coach Murphy did, including reaching the playoffs 11 straight seasons, or that he coached Gladewater to the state quarterfinals on five occasions.

Before he was “Coach” Murphy, he was just Jack Murphy, but Jack Murphy was a pretty good athlete – a very good athlete, actually, who lettered in four different sports at Chapel Hill High School and had all-district status in football and in baseball.

He was good enough in football that he earned a scholarship to the University of Tulsa, and went there for a season, playing there before he departed for Tyler Junior College. He was great at TJC, making the all-conference and NJCAA All-American lists.

He would go back to Tulsa, make All-Missouri Valley Conference twice and after graduating from Tulsa, would return home and earn a Master of Education from East Texas State University and a Mid-Management certificate from Stephen F. Austin University.

Murphy did coach at Clarendon and Judson before accepting an assistant coach’s job at Gladewater in 1965 – when Lyndon B. Johnson was President of the United States. Murphy would be named head coach in 1969 and guided the Bears to their deepest playoff run in school history, to the state quarterfinals.

That would be the first of many successes under Murphy, as he would guide the Bears to the quarterfinals four additional times and to the state semifinals twice (in both 1975 and 1989). Murphy finished with 215 wins, 116 losses and 7 ties.

Of course, he became the GHS athletic director, as well, in 1982, serving as both AD and coach for the remainder of his career. He also had a special relationship with the Texas High School Coaches Association, a member of the board of directors for four years, and a Region XIV football coach on four occasions, as well. He was the district coach of the year on eight occasions and the East Texas Coach of the Year twice.

In 1998, he won the Tom Landry Award; he’s a member of the Tyler Junior College Sports Circle of Honor; and of course, as any Gladewater fan can tell you, he’s the namesake of the school’s football stadium, the Jack V. Murphy Bear Stadium.

Coach Murphy, who retired in 1997 and passed in 2000 of cancer, was married to Jo Leah Murphy and had three children, Kelly, Jack and Jill.

ETBlitz.com congratulates the Gladewater football family on Coach Murphy’s induction into the Texas High School Coaches Association’s Hall of Honor.