Murphy High School, in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

, is a

public high school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

operated by the

Mobile County Public School System Mobile County Public School System (MCPSS) is a school district based in unincorporated area, unincorporated Mobile County, Alabama, Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The system currently serves areas of Mobile County, including the city ...

that educates

grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

9– 12.

History

Founding and early history

In 1922, the

(MCPSS) began to plan for the construction of a new high school that would serve the entire county, as the facilities of the now venerable 80 years old

Barton Academy Barton Academy is a historic Greek Revival school building located on Government Street in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was under construction from 1836 to 1839 and was designed by architects James H. Dakin, Charles B. Dakin, and Jam ...

structure of

Greek Revival architecture Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

, in downtown, were becoming overcrowded and suffering from inadequate maintenance and difficult to maintain. In 1923 the Mobile County

School Board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

acquired from the Carlen family for the site of their proposed high school complex. The cornerstone of the school was laid on December 14, 1925, and on April 26, 1926, Mobile High School opened. Construction costs totaled $850,000 for the first six buildings with an additional $200,000 spent on the gymnasium and the indoor pool installed in 1930. Two years after its opening the school's name was changed to Murphy High School in honor of Samuel Silenus Murphy, MCPSS superintendent from 1900 to 1926. While still called Mobile High School, the yearbook had been called the ''Mobile High Annual''. At the change of the name to Murphy High School, the workers did not want to change the name of the yearbook. They agreed to shorten the name to ''Mohian'', a shortened version of ''Mo''bile ''Hi''gh ''An''nual. The school's colors are gold and blue. Their mascot is a panther.

Desegregation

The school was desegregated in 1963 when three

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

students brought a case against the Mobile County School Board for being denied admission to the then all-white school.Thomason, Michael. ''Mobile : the new history of Alabama's first city'', pages 260-261. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001. The court ordered that the three students be admitted to Murphy for the 1964 school year. By the fall of 1970, following stringent

desegregation Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws ...

efforts in Alabama, 1,500 of the school's 2,140 students were African American. At the same time, the school had 34 African American teachers on its 87-member faculty.

National recognition

In 1982 Murphy High School was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

by the

U.S. Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relating t ...

. In 1987 it was selected as a Presidential Model School by the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a United States Cabinet, cabinet-level department of the federal government of the United States, United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, havin ...

. ''

Redbook ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Communications, Hearst magazine division. It is one of the "Seven Sisters (magazines), Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publicatio ...

'' magazine named Murphy as one of the top high schools in the United States and one of the largest high schools in Alabama in 1994. Murphy students were featured in the '' Seventeen'' magazine issue for November 1996 fashion trends in high school. Several students from the classes of 1997 and 1998 were included in the magazine.

Christmas Day tornado

On December 25, 2012, Murphy High School was hit directly by an EF2 wedge tornado, which caused significant damage to the campus. Students and faculty were relocated. They finished the remainder of the 2012 school year at the former Shaw High School in west Mobile while the Murphy campus was rebuilt. On August 19, 2013, the renovated storm-damaged high school campus reopened.

Academics

Murphy has 14

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere ...

courses, the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

program, and the

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry int ...

Notable alumni

Buddy Aydelette William Leslie "Buddy" Aydelette (born August 19, 1956) is an American former professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL) and United States Football League (USFL). He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers i ...

, former NFL player, Green Bay Packers * James M. Fail, philanthropist * Neil Farrell Jr., NFL defensive tackle,

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

* Kathryn P. Hire, NASA astronaut * Frank Howard, former football head coach and athletic director for the

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the sport, athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level (NCAA Divis ...

Bobby Jackson Bobby Jackson (born March 13, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach who is an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Western Nebraska Community College ...

, former NFL player * Michael Jefferson, American football wide receiver *

Joey Jones Joseph Patrick Jones (born 4 March 1955) is a Welsh former footballer who played as a full-back. Jones most notably played for Liverpool, with whom he won two European Cups. He is also known for his long association with Wrexham, playing for ...

, NFL player and NCAA coach * Alex Lincoln, former

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

Ivan Maisel Ivan Maisel is a national college football writer. Career An alumnus of Murphy High in Mobile and Stanford University, Maisel began his career at The Atlanta Constitution in 1981, where he covered Clemson's unlikely run to the national champ ...

, college football writer for ESPN * Jim Mason, former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player ( Washington Senators, Texas Rangers,

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

) * Keith McCants, former football player for the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

and the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

. *

Mardye McDole Mardye McDole (May 1, 1959 – March 28, 2023) was an American professional American football, football player who was a wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). McDole was selected by the Vikings in the se ...

, former NFL player, Minnesota Vikings *

Captain Munnerlyn Captain Lesean Munnerlyn (born April 10, 1988) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks for three years. He was sel ...

, former NFL player,

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

* Solomon Patton, former NFL player *

Sidney Phillips Sidney Clarke Phillips, Jr. (September 2, 1924 – September 26, 2015) was a United States Marine, family practice physician, and author from Mobile, Alabama. He provided source material and interviews for the making of Ken Burns' PBS docum ...

, US Marine * Dennison Robinson, Former

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

player for the

Chicago Rush The Chicago Rush were a professional arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois. The team was founded in 2001 and played in the Arena Football League's Central Division. The Rush qualified for the playoffs in 11 of 12 AFL seasons, during w ...

Phil Savage Phillip Savage Jr. (born April 7, 1965) is an American football executive, author and media personality who currently serves as a consultant for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the senior personne ...

, Philadelphia Eagle Player Personnel Executive, Senior Bowl Executive Director * Billy Shipp, former NFL and CFL player *

Don Siegelman Donald Eugene Siegelman ( ; born February 24, 1946) is an American politician who was the 51st governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003. To date, Siegelman is the last Democrat as well as the only Catholic to serve as Governor of Alabama. Siegelma ...

, former governor of the state of Alabama * Cleo Simmons, former NFL player *

Eugene Sledge Eugene Bondurant Sledge (November 4, 1923 – March 3, 2001) was a United States Marine, university professor, and author. His 1981 memoir ''With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa'' chronicled his combat experiences during World War II ...

, US Marine, author, professor * Leighton W. Smith Jr., admiral in US Navy *

Taylor Stallworth Taylor Joseph Stallworth (born August 18, 1995) is an American professional football defensive tackle for the Michigan Panthers of the United Football League (UFL). He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks and signed with the ...

, former NFL

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

* John Steber, former NFL player * Mickey Sutton, former NFL player *

Erick Walder Erick Walder (born November 5, 1971, in Mobile, Alabama) is an American former long jumper. He was a silver medalist at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics and twice bronze medallist at the IAAF World Indoor Championships (1995, 1999). He a ...

, long jumper, Olympic Silver Medal, 1997 Athens * Clifton "C. C." Williams, NASA astronaut and US Marine *

Jerrel Wilson Jerrel Douglas Wilson (October 4, 1941 – April 9, 2005), nicknamed "Thunderfoot", was an American professional football punter who played for 16 seasons, 15 of them with the Kansas City Chiefs, in the American Football League (AFL) and the ...

, former NFL player Kansas City Chiefs, Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame 2011

References

External links

Murphy High SchoolMurphy High School Alumni Association
{{authority control National Register of Historic Places in Mobile, Alabama High schools in Mobile, Alabama International Baccalaureate schools in Alabama Educational institutions established in 1926 Public high schools in Alabama 1926 establishments in Alabama