Feb. 23, 2008
In October of 1983 Noel and Jennifer Murphy, along with their son Kerry, moved from Jamaica to New York. That December Rohan Mario Murphy was born.
Rohan Murphy began wrestling 11 years ago in eighth grade at the encouragement of his gym teacher Ron Carteau. That year Murphy "fell in love with the sport."
| /graphics/spacer.gif" width=5 height=4 border=0> | Rohan Murphy |
Though he only fell in love then, Murphy said sports have always been in his blood. His father named his son after his childhood sports idols Rohan Kanhai, a West Indian cricket player, and Mario Kempes, an Argentine soccer player. So, a love for wrestling did not seem to be too far out of the ordinary. But Rohan is no-ordinary athlete.
At the age of four he had both legs amputated above the knee due to birth defects. But it has not stopped him yet. "I've always thought that I wouldn't let my disability stop me from doing the things I wanted to do in life," said Murphy.
His mother was skeptical of wrestling at first, "she was worried I might get hurt or injured, but after a while she knew it was good for me," said Murphy.
As a senior at East Islip High School in his hometown of Long Island, N.Y., Murphy went 30-2 on his way to becoming the No. 1 seed in his weight class before falling to his opponent late in the match for the Suffolk County title. But the loss was in no way the end of Murphy's wrestling career.
Following in the footsteps of his older brother Kerry, Murphy decided to attend Penn State, because "of their outstanding wrestling program and great academics." But, he began at the Altoona branch, where there was no wrestling. After two years he transferred to the University Park campus and at the age of 20, Rohan Murphy was given the shot of a lifetime. He "walked-on" to the Penn State wrestling team and into Head coach Troy Sunderland's illustrious program.
"Troy Sunderland gave me a shot and I love him for that, because he gave me a chance to do something that I love to do," said Murphy.
In two seasons as a Nittany Lion he went 3-5, but it wasn't the wins and losses he remembers most fondly. His favorite memories are being around his teammates, the camaraderie, and best of all a trip to Vegas this past summer for the world team trials with his coaches to see some of his teammates wrestle. "Best experience I've ever had here at Penn State by far," said Murphy, "I'll always remember that."
Most recently, Murphy has had an experience that few outside the likes of Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and other famous athletes will ever have. He refers to it as "almost famous." Murphy was chosen out of over 100 Paralympic athletes to be the face of Nike's new online ad campaign. "They asked if there were any tricks I could do for them athletically, and I kind of jumped up on the big round meeting table and started doing push-ups and handstand push-ups, and they loved me," said Murphy grinning.
Murphy, now a part-time graduate student in health policy and administration at Penn State, is training in powerlifting full-time for the Paralympics in Beijing this summer.
In 2006, at the International Powerlifting Championships in Korea, Murphy claimed bronze in the 56kg competition. But, the Paralympics should provide a new challenge for Murphy. Although he does not quite know what to expect, his competitive nature can't help but drive him to hoping and training hard for a medal.
Training for the Paralympics is somewhat of a different regimen for Murphy who for wrestling climbed Tussey Mountain, the local ski resort mountain, a couple of times - on his hands.
| /graphics/spacer.gif" width=5 height=4 border=0> | /graphics/spacer.gif" width=1 height=4 border=0> Rohan Murphy |
"It was pretty cool, it wasn't really that hard for me to be honest, it didn't seem like anything major to me, but everyone on the team loved it."
Climbing a local mountain is just one example of Murphy's passion for sport. Anything that will make him better, he will do. He sometimes does pushups with a 100 lb. weight on his back and maintains that the hard part is balancing the weight, not the actual push-up.
Murphy describes his training for the Paralympics as "pretty intense," he lifts 3-4 times per week. While training for Beijing is his main focus now, three years ago Murphy would have never thought of competing in any disabled sport, let alone be training for the Paralympics.
As a kid Murphy competed in disabled sports before finding wrestling, but didn't find them competitive. But his mind was changed when he realized that the Paralympics are "just like any other major competition for able-bodied people, they're really competitive," said Murphy, "and that's what I love about sports."
While Murphy has a love for sports, he looks to alter his course after the Paralympics and the completion of his graduate degree. Already equipped with a Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology, he wants to move home to New York and work with disabled children. "Home is where the heart is," said Murphy. "I've been so blessed and fortunate to have people help me out when I was younger, now I want to give it back." Murphy hopes to help disabled children become involved in sports as well as continue to train on his own for powerlifting career.
His love for sports has been the passion of his life, but Murphy never envisioned the life he now has. "Wrestling led to one thing, and then wrestling here at Penn State led to the Paralympics. One after another, it's kind of funny how life turns out sometimes."
It is funny. Murphy went from being named after some of the world's most famous athletes, to becoming quite famous himself - Rohan Mario Murphy, former NCAA Division I Wrestler and current United States of America Powerlifter- hero and inspiration to those who know and will meet him. The best kind of famous of all.
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Murphy's Nike commercial can be found online He will be competing in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics in powerlifting September 9 - September 15, 2008.
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