Murphy played and coached football and basketball for the Wissahickon Hawks Athletic Association in Roxborough. After retiring in 1972 from active officiating, he spent hours preparing young people for the officiators' test, his family said. Murphy was former chairman of the Catholic League High School Officials, who rated him the No. In his younger years, he also refereed Catholic Youth Organization games, where a player gave him the nickname "Big Daddy." He also pursued a career as a basketball official for 30 years, officiating at Baker League basketball games and numerous high school and college games. John the Baptist High School in Roxborough, where he played football and basketball.ĭuring World War II, he served in the Navy in Norfolk, Va., and refereed Navy basketball games.Īfter his discharge, he was a salesman and then a sales manager for trucking companies before becoming a bar owner. Murphy had turned the restaurant's operations over to his daughter and son-in-law, Joanne and Chris Bass, he was there every morning and every Wednesday and Friday night, they said. In 1994, an Inquirer food writer described Ye Olde Ale House as a destination for "a spectacular hot roast beef sandwich with sneeze-inducing horseradish and sinful fried mushrooms." The writer said a customer would be "especially blessed" to "get a taste of owner Bill Murphy's special brand of charm." He greeted every customer with a big smile and his infamous one-liners, they said. The new venture gave him a chance to entertain adults and their children as well, his family said. Murphy continued to own Murphy's Tavern for a few years after buying Ye Olde Ale House in 1987, a family restaurant in Lafayette Hill. He was a sweet man who made every customer feel special." He would return often and said that "Bill Murphy became my East Coast dad. Tollefson had a couple of beers and the "best bar pizza ever" before leaving with his six-pack. The clerk sent him to Murphy's Tavern, where he was warmly welcomed by the owner. Not knowing the local liquor laws, Tollefson tried to buy a six-pack at a convenience store.
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Murphy purchased a bar in Roxborough in 1968, and Murphy's Tavern became a popular gathering place for neighbors and sports figures, including former Dodgers manager Tony Lasorda and high school and college basketball coach Speedy Morris.ĭon Tollefson, who hosts a pregame TV show for the Eagles, discovered the bar in 1975 soon after moving from California to Philadelphia to be a reporter for WPVI-TV. "Big Daddy" Murphy, 84, a congenial tavern owner and longtime basketball officiator, died of heart failure Friday, March 18, at home in Roxborough.