RIP Dennis Murphy

HanSenSE · Jul 16, 2021

Founder of four pro sports leagues in his lifetime, most notably the ABA amd WHA. Also did a lot of behind-the-scenes work in promoting the Bobby Riggs-Billie Jean King "Battle of the Sexes" that helped ignite the tennis boom in the 1970s.

Dennis Murphy, co-founder of pro sports leagues, dies at 94

maumann · Jul 16, 2021

The four major professional leagues were perfectly content to maintain their monopolies until guys like Dennis Murphy showed up and turned sports upside down -- and as a kid, I loved it.

The Continential League never played a game, but forced the AL and NL to expand into places like Minneapolis, Houston and Atlanta, then eventually to Denver and Toronto. The Mets were offered to the CL ownership led by Joan Payson after the Dodgers and Giants left town.

The ABA and WHA struggled from the start, mainly because of the economic downturn that plagued the entire decade of the 1970s, but were way more fun to watch than the established leagues. I remember seeing Rick Barry with the Anaheim Amigos, and the Howe family with the Houston Aeros. Basketball doesn't get to Indianapolis, San Antonio and Denver -- and the NBA doesn't expand as rapidly -- without Murphy. Same with the NHL, which resisted expanding past the Original Six for way too long.

Plus, Doctor J and Wayne Gretzky revolutionized their respective games while playing in the upstart leagues.

In addition, you had the American Soccer League and NASL starting up. Just an explosion of new teams and leagues right when I was getting interested in different sports.

World Team Tennis was a pretty radical idea for its day, and rode the coattails of the tennis boom surrounding Evert, Connors, King, et al. Plus you can't really underestimate the significance of the Riggs-King match, which happened to be played on my birthday.

RIP to a visionary.

HanSenSE · Jul 17, 2021

Barry was one of the first big names to jump leagues, but he went from the San Francisco Warriors to the Oakland Oaks, not Anaheim.

World Team Tennis was interesting. Co-ed teams, court was divided into different colors and, as maumann noted, they drew some big names to play. The Golden Gaters, which played out of the Oakland Coliseum Arena, even had its matches on KNBR for a couple of seasons. When there was a conflict with the A's, they were shuffled off to FM. (This was when AM still ruled the broadcast world).

And I suddenly rememberd one year when NBC had celebrity analysts in the booth for Monday Night Baseball along with Gowdy and Kubek. Bobby Riggs was booked for a Giants-Mets game at Shea and, of course, Randy Moffitt - Billie Jean King's younger brother - pitched in relief for the Giants.

ChrisLong · Jul 17, 2021

Our small daily in Santa Monica had a writer on the road with the L.A. Strings and Chris Evert for a while. It was because Jerry Buss wanted it and he arranged ad tradeouts to cover the costs of travel. (That's why I was able to travel with the Kings.)
I covered a few Strings home matches when Ilie Nastase was on the team. One match he almost got into a fight with Bjorn Borg. Those matches were on radio with Keith Shackelford (UCLA and Lakers) doing the broadcasting.