Mark Hodge Murphy (born July 13, 1955) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

executive and former American football player currently serving as the president and chief executive officer of the Green Bay Packers of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). Prior to that, he was the athletic director at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

and Colgate University. He also played in the NFL as a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

for the NFL's

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

for eight seasons from 1977 to 1984.

Early years and education

Murphy was born in Fulton, New York. He attended Colgate University, where he was also a member of the

Theta Chi Theta Chi () is an international Fraternities and sororities, college fraternity. It was founded on April 10, 1856 at Norwich University then-located in Norwich, Vermont, and has initiated more than 200,000 members and currently has over 8,700 c ...

fraternity and played college football. Before his NFL career ended and while playing for the Redskins he obtained an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from American University's Kogod School of Business in 1983. Murphy graduated with a J.D. degree from the

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

in 1988.

Professional career

1986 Jeno's Pizza - 09 - Mark Murphy (cropped)

Murphy played in Super Bowl XVII and

Super Bowl XVIII Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference ( ...

with the

. He played a key role in the Redskins 27–17 Super Bowl XVII win over the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

, recording a second half interception of Miami

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

David Woodley David Eugene Woodley (October 25, 1958 – May 4, 2003) was an American football player, a quarterback in the National Football League for the Miami Dolphins (1980–1983), and the Pittsburgh Steelers (1984–1985). He played college football ...

's pass with the Dolphins on Washington's 37-yard line. Murphy's best season was in 1983, when he led the NFL with nine interceptions and returned them for 127 yards. He finished his eight-season career with 27 interceptions and 282 return yards, along with six fumble recoveries for 22 returns yards, in 109 games. He also made the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

after the 1983 season. Murphy was the Redskins representative to the

NFL Players Association The National Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, is a labor union representing National Football League (NFL) players. The NFLPA, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C., is led by president J. C. Tretter and executive director DeM ...

. He served on the bargaining committee in the players' strike that caused the cancellation of seven games during the 1982 season. Many suspect that the Redskins' decision to release him after the 1983 season and the reluctance of any other team to sign him was retribution for his union activity.

Sports executive

Murphy moved back to

Hamilton, New York Hamilton is a town in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 6,690 at the 2010 census. The town is named after American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. The Town of Hamilton contains a village also named Hamilton, the s ...

, to become the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches an ...

at Colgate University in the early 1990s until 2003. Later, Murphy moved to

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...

to serve as the athletic director at

. On December 3, 2007, he was announced as the new Green Bay Packers President and CEO. On February 6, 2011, Green Bay won

Super Bowl XLV Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

, giving Murphy his second Super Bowl victory, thanks in part to the performance of Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers.

References

External links

Green Bay Packers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Mark 1955 births American football safeties Colgate Raiders athletic directors Colgate Raiders baseball players Colgate Raiders football players Georgetown University Law Center alumni Green Bay Packers presidents Kogod School of Business alumni Living people National Conference Pro Bowl players National Football League team presidents Northwestern Wildcats athletic directors People from Erie County, New York People from Fulton, Oswego County, New York Players of American football from New York (state) Washington Redskins players