Tombstone of longtime official Ron Murphy is shown near Edom. (Pat Wheeler/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

EDOM — When asked late in life if he ever missed playing football, the great Doak Walker said yes, that in the fall, when the days become cooler and the air is filled with an aroma of freshly cut grass, his heart would yearn to play just one more game.

Walker won the Heisman Trophy at SMU in the early 1950s and passed away in 1998. My thoughts of him came to mind just this week when the temperature dropped precipitously and I realized another football season is upon us. More specifically, I thought of another football player, a fellow East Texan — Ronald Lee Murphy of Edom.

Murphy was a friend that I would see early on Sundays at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. Ron attended a class at 8 so he would be leaving as I was arriving for my 9:30 class. We would chat a moment or two and just thank the Lord that we were both doing well. After not seeing him for some time, I asked a mutual friend of ours and learned he had passed away at age 85 last November. I was saddened to have missed his funeral at Prestonwood attended by many of our mutual friends who attend a Bible study for coaches. I also learned that pastor Neal Jeffrey, a former champion quarterback for Baylor, did the eulogy for Ron.

That Bible study, Coaches Outreach, was where I first met Murphy and started a friendship about 10 years ago. When I talked of being from Tyler, Murphy revealed he was from Van. And when I began speaking of Van in terms of endearment since my first ever round of golf was at the POCO (Pure Oil Company) golf course, famous for its “tank hole,” Murphy said he grew up on a farm in Edom and took the school bus to Van each school day where he starred as a football and baseball player.

Wanting to continue to play both football and baseball in college, Murphy regretted having to turn down legendary Floyd Wagstaff’s offer of a football scholarship to Tyler Junior College. At Paris Junior College, he could play both sports. After Paris, he matriculated to Austin College in Sherman where he played on an outstanding football team his senior year.

Once his playing days were over, Murphy went into coaching like his older brother Joe, who was the longtime head coach at Athens High School. He coached at W.T. White High School in Dallas for several years before going into private business while continuing his love affair with football by officiating games at every level — high school, junior college, college and the NFL.

It was in his role as a back judge that Murphy created a treasure trove of memories.

“I remember one time he called a penalty in the national championship game between Alabama and Miami that caused quite an uproar,” his nephew Joe Mike Murphy said. “Alabama was driving to win the game and their running back rolled the ball instead of giving it to Ron and he called an unsportsmanlike penalty. That really upset coach Gene Stallings. Fortunately Alabama went on to score so Stallings still spoke to Ron afterwards.”

Stallings, an East Texan from Paris, was just one of many friends that Murphy came to know in his lengthy career officiating in the NFL, the old Southwest Conference and the Big 12. Just to name a few others would include Dan Reeves, Raymond Berry and the founder of Coaches Outreach Bible Study, Tommy Maxwell, who played at Texas A&M for Stallings in the late 1960s and won a Super Bowl ring with the Baltimore Colts in 1970. Unfortunately that ring came at the expense of the Dallas Cowboys who would redeem themselves the following year with their first Super Bowl win over Miami in 1971.

Of the many stories Murphy shared with me about his officiating, there were two that stand out. The first was in Austin and Murphy said he called pass interference on Texas deep in its own territory and could see Darrell Royal start running towards him to no doubt verbally dispute the call. But Royal ran out of wire about half way to Murphy as his headset went flying off. Slightly embarrassed, the great coach let it go much to Murphy’s relief.

The second story is my favorite and occurred on a foggy day in Waco when an A&M kicker lined up for a crazy 65-yard field goal. Murphy was warned to get underneath the goal posts as he lingered near the 10 yard line. Then, to his amazement and everyone else in Baylor Stadium, the football off the bare foot of Tony Franklin came out of the leaden sky with enough carry to be good — a new college football record at that time in 1976.

It was during his years of officiating that Murphy discovered another skill that gave him and others much joy. He began to draw cartoons about football and other things that struck his fancy. He shared those drawings with his coaching friends and one large original has been displayed in the locker room at TCU for years.

“He just had a zest for life that we all miss now,” another relative, nephew Craig Murphy of Tyler said. “Ron had so many friends in football and the sporting goods business and he brought a lot of them to visit us during one of our reunions here through the years.”

The Murphy clan from Edom and Athens and Tyler is quite large and naturally have wonderful memories of sports in East Texas. At a recent luncheon in Athens, I was treated to stories from more relatives — first cousin Larry Murphy of Edom and niece Patti Murphy Mullen of North Richland Hills.

“Ron and I survived a horrible accident when we were in the eighth grade and on our way to a Pony League baseball game,” Larry said. “A pick-up carrying 11 of us — 3 in the front and 8 in back — flipped over and all of us went flying. Ron was all skinned up and we had to take him to Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler. One of our players survived a bad concussion and he is a counselor at Van High School. Bill Giles may be the oldest counselor in Texas.”

Craig laughed as he remembered Ron’s nickname “Blood” that came from a quarrel one day when he was a boy that led to a fist fight and a bloody nose on the grounds of the Methodist church in Edom. The pastor admonished the boys and said there would be no bloodshed on the church grounds.

Patti will attest that her Uncle Ron was quite handsome, even in those striped outfits that football officials wear. She remembers him being in the movies with Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson, playing a football official of course.

“It was always great to be around Ron and meet his friends and hear stories,” Patti said. “He was a wonderful uncle to me and will be greatly missed.”

Taking advantage of a perfect sunny and cool day in early September, I took a little detour to Edom on my way back to Dallas from Tyler and visited the community cemetery that is the final resting place of Ron Murphy. The words on his headstone speak of his life in football.

“The best things in life are the people we loved, the places we’ve been and the memories we have made along the way.”