‘I owe the school. They don’t owe me anything’: Niagara basketball legend Calvin Murphy returns to campus

Calvin Murphy feels the same flutter bounce through his stomach and chest each time he returns to Niagara University.

That sensation rises from the memories he has of being on campus in Lewiston in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer came to Western New York from Norwalk, Conn., to play basketball in the fall of 1966. He remembers the fun moments on campus. He recalls the larger-than-life, 6-foot-5 priest whom he always worried would be the one to discipline him if he stepped out of line. He thanks the English professor who encouraged him to take a public speaking class his freshman year. Later in life, it helped him become an NBA commentator.

There were teammates who set picks, who took charges, who grabbed rebounds and who did the basketball grunt work that helped Murphy become Niagara’s most prolific basketball player and its all-time leading scorer.

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He thinks of Niagara’s loyalty to him, over the last 57 years.

“They can never ask me to do anything, and have me say no,” Murphy told The Buffalo News on Friday. “Impossible. Impossible. Because they’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly of Calvin Murphy and they’ve never turned their back on me. Ever, ever, ever, ever. So, with that being said, I owe the school more than that. They say, ‘You put Niagara on the map.’ That’s not true. Niagara had a rich tradition of basketball long before me.

“I owe the school. They don’t owe me anything.”

That combination of nervousness and elation was no different this week, as Murphy returned, riding shotgun in the car of Niagara athletic director Simon Gray. They rolled onto the campus where more than 50 years prior, he and his teammates took Niagara basketball to national prominence.

“I just hope that tonight, when they introduce me, I don’t get emotional and start crying,” Murphy said, prior to Niagara’s 79-73 overtime win against Quinnipiac. “Because I’m feeling yesterday in my soul.”

The lights dimmed before he strutted to center court at the Gallagher Center, and the fans rose to their feet, including a few who held bobbleheads of Murphy that were handed out at the doors.

Calvin Murphy got emotional.

He is still going strong at 74, wearing colorful Craig Sager-esque suits, telling stories about his grandchildren and working as a commentator for the NBA’s Houston Rockets with AT&T SportsNet Southwest. He learned over the summer that Niagara planned to make bobbleheads to commemorate him, Hubie Brown and Larry Costello, its three Naismith Hall of Famers. Murphy insisted he’d return to campus, no matter what was happening that day.

As he sat in Gray’s corner office on the second floor of the Gallagher Center, Murphy joked that he could watch the Houston Rockets lose a game any time. The Rockets are in the basement of the NBA’s Western Conference, so he’s seen a lot of losses this season.

But opportunities for Murphy to return to the place and the program that he helped lift to national prominence in the early 1970s are few. Murphy was ready to relish this weekend.

‘No one could shoot the ball like Calvin’

“It’s Calvin Murphy night!” a woman sang as she strode into the lower level of the Gallagher Center, where Niagara hosted a welcome reception for Murphy.

As Murphy mingled with Niagara alumni and season-ticket holders about an hour before Niagara’s tipoff, he wore a rich, sparkly purple suit with black lining, and black shoes adorned with iridescent butterflies. If it wasn’t for his snappy attire, the 5-foot-9 Murphy might otherwise blend into a crowd. 

Marshall Wingate, Murphy’s teammate from 1968-72, took inventory of the years he’s known Murphy.

He watched Murphy score 68 points – 34 in the first half and 34 in the second half – in a 118-110 win Dec. 7, 1968, against Syracuse in Lewiston. Consider this: The NCAA introduced the shot clock in 1985, at 45 seconds per possession. A year later, it added the 3-point line.

But Wingate isn’t mesmerized by Murphy, simply due to familiarity.

“I don’t look at him like everyone in the room does,” Wingate said. “We were always stealing his stuff and pulling his pants down and making fun of him. He was the little guy on the team.”

Then, he took another glance at Murphy, who signed autographs at a table in the center of the room.

“We were playing with basketball royalty,” he said. “I played with a lot of greats, but no one could shoot the ball like Calvin.”

As the Gallagher Center’s multi-purpose filled up, two Niagara students walked by the room.

“That’s where they’re honoring the guy with the bobblehead,” one told the other.

‘It doesn’t get any better than that’

The campus has changed since Murphy graduated in 1970, with a degree in economics. The Castellani Art Museum is now across from the Gallagher Center; Murphy remembers seeing Armand Castellani, an art collector and the founder of Tops Markets, on campus in Lewiston. “Mr. Armand,” as Murphy called him.

Dormitories have sprung up where empty fields used to be. So has Dwyer Arena, where the hockey team plays. Varsity Village still stands, north of the Gallagher Center and the art museum; Murphy remembers sneaking into the squat buildings as a freshman.

“I can tell you things that happened on campus like it was yesterday,” Murphy said, grinning.

The basketball is a lot different, too. Small-school programs like Saint Peter’s making a deep NCAA Tournament run are a Cinderella-story exception, not the norm. The National Invitation Tournament doesn’t carry the same prestige of the 68-team NCAA Tournament. A standout player at a mid-major or a lower mid-major program might take advantage of the transfer portal and test his wares with a Power Six program the next season.

Murphy’s basketball counterparts at other schools also may not hold the same place that he holds at Niagara. 

Murphy is keenly aware of this fact.

“All of my contemporaries are gone,” Murphy said. “And there are guys that went to Michigan and Michigan State and all these big schools that have forgotten all about them. And I talk about ‘little Niagara that still remembers Calvin Murphy.’ ”

He emphatically banged his hand against a table and grinned. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

On Friday afternoon, Murphy met with this year’s men’s basketball team that, ultimately, was continuing his legacy and the legacy of the program.

“I’m from Houston, so I know Calvin Murphy as a Rockets guy, and seeing him, growing up as a kid and watching him to the broadcasts, the opportunity to meet him was a blessing,” said Niagara guard Noah Thomasson, whose team rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat Quinnipiac and move into fourth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

If Murphy was nervous, no one noticed. Niagara coach Greg Paulus immediately sensed Murphy’s competitiveness when he came to the Purple Eagles’ walkthrough. Murphy also had a message for the Purple Eagles: Appreciate everything about the experience of being at Niagara.

“Take advantage of everything given, and now, you know that to get, you got to give,” Murphy said. “I always talk to them about being appreciative of where they are.”

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