Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 11, 1994 TAG: 9402140324
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
When he takes off his cap, a shaggy mane of sandy blond hair falls down over the young Radford wrestler's face. He likes wearing a baggy flannel shirt like the kind made popular by Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain.
Regularly, he assaults his ears with the decibel-squashing sounds of groups like Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains, a couple of the tamer bands he admires.
Before wrestling matches this year, Murphy prepared himself by listening to Nine Inch Nails, a group that, to the heavy-metal-challenged, sounds as musical as nine-inch fingernails on a blackboard.
"It's a very hard rock band," Murphy said.
Because Murphy is such an ultramodern dude - heck, he relaxes by listening to New Age music - it's more than a touch ironic that he has taken such an interest in history lately.
Murphy and the rest of his teammates rewrote Bobcat wrestling history when they claimed the program's first New River District championship since 1979 - back when Murphy was 2 years old and the Village People ruled the charts - in a tournament that was tighter than a spandex wrestling uniform on a heavyweight competitor.
Radford edged out Blacksburg 1461/2 points to 145 - scores that were tallied and recounted twice.
When the match is that close, it's tough to single out any one wrestler as the hero. Certainly, there was no shortage of lion-hearted guys on the Radford side. It was Murphy, though, who may have won the most important individual matches of a tournament that was filled with more action than a Seattle mosh pit.
Murphy won the 112-pound championship by beating Christiansburg's Zach Johnson 9-5. Just as importantly, he upset the favored but injured L.J. Hensel from Blacksburg in the opening round by an 8-5 count.
Hensel entered the tournament with a 13-1 record, but because of a knee injury, he hadn't wrestled in enough district matches to qualify for seeding. Hensel's layoff showed early in the match when he began suffering cramps in his legs and needed a couple of timeouts. Murphy wasn't in much better shape after a first-period takedown left him with a broken left pinkie.
"I remember thinking after the fall, 'Wow, that hurt,'" Murphy said. "They had to take an injury timeout to work on [Hensel], and I looked at my finger. It was pointing the wrong direction."
He claims to have blocked out the pain.
"I kind of zoned out a lot," he said.
Some folks around Murphy would say the personable, free-spirited sophomore is always in some kind of a zone, twilight or otherwise.
"He's out there somewhere," said Tony DeHart, Radford's coach. "He does some off-the-wall stuff."
Like last year during the Region IV tournament, when a referee told Murphy that his hair was too long. Murphy left the mat, borrowed a pair of clippers from a teammate and shaved his own head over a trash can.
During last week's tournament, Murphy pulled his hair through his head gear in such a fashion that he appeared to have horns.
He wrestled like a demon and his win in the finals was the first of Radford's four individual championships (Marlon Wesley won at 140 pounds, Jason Abercrombie at 145, and Chris Vicars at heavyweight). At the time, it was the most important.
"That [win] sort of got the ball rolling," said DeHart. "It was a big match and everybody knew it was a big match. That set the tone for the rest of the night."
After Vicars won his match by a pin, Murphy awaited the scoring recount by sitting in the bleachers and listening to another favorite album, Pink Floyd's "The Wall." That record was released, coincidentally, in 1979, when Radford last won an NRD wrestling title.
"I remember it well," Murphy said.
by CNB