It was a middle school physical education teacher that brought up the idea of wrestling to Bob Murphy and when he got into high school, his wrestling career began.

Graduating from Williamsburg High School in 1970, Murphy wrestled all four years, taking fourth place at 126 in his senior year at the state tournament. He realized he wanted to continue wrestling, so he found a home at Loras College. He wrestled at 142 for four years for the Duhawks and went to nationals his junior and senior seasons. Before graduating in 1974, Murphy placed in the top-eight in that year’s national tournament.

Murphy stayed at Loras for four more years after graduating, spending three as an assistant coach for the wrestling team and one more year as the head coach.

He then became the head wrestling coach at Wahlert Catholic High School in Dubuque, Iowa.

After coaching at Wahlert for seven years, Murphy took the administrative degree he earned at Loras and went to Plainfield High School, where he was the principal and activities director. He worked in Plainfield from 1986-88 before heading to West Delaware.

Murphy started at West Delaware High School in Manchester, Iowa, in 1989 as the assistant principal and activities director and was there for 25 years before retiring in July 2013.

After his time at West Delaware, Murphy became the executive director for the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA), assuming that role in 2013 and holding it for 10 years.

As for officiating wrestling, Murphy is in his 51st year. He started officiating as a sophomore at Loras in 1972. Being a college wrestler then college coach, he began doing junior high and high school officiating. He bumped up to doing some college officiating after he left Loras.

Murphy has officiated at 30 Iowa State Wrestling Tournaments, with the 2023 tournament being his final one.

Murphy has gathered some other accolades throughout his years of officiating. He was named the Iowa High School Athletic Association Official of the Year in 2001 and 2016 and has also been inducted into the Iowa High School Officials Hall of Fame, as well as the Iowa High School Athletic Director’s Hall of Fame.