BostonHerald Deputy Sports Editor Mark Murphy works in one of the most
sports-engrossed cities in the country.
Murphy grew up in a part of Connecticut
that breeds Yankee fans; he wasn’t a fan of the Yankees or the local newspapers
because of their extensive coverage on the team.
He was part of the minority. He was a Red Sox fan.
After graduating from the prodigious University of
Pennsylvania, Murphy wasn’t quite sure of what he wanted to do; however he knew
he wanted to move to Boston.
After careful thought, he figured out that he
wanted to combine into one job his love for writing and enjoyment of sports.
He
started out as a freelancer for a small newspaper called the Dedham Transcript.
Later he became a sports editor for a mid-level paper. After putting in some
time at the paper, a job opened up with the Boston Herald as a night sports
editor.
After five hard years of working as the night sports editor, Murphy was
later promoted to Deputy Sports Editor.
Interview
Q: What was your first job in the sports industry?
A: I was a freelancer. What we call a stringer. For the
Dedham transcript, which is a small, at the time a small daily newspaper in
Dedham. I believe it is weekly. I did as a freelance basis. I did it part-time.
About a month after that I moved to a paper called the Middlesex news which is
in Framingham, Ma. It is now called the Metro West Daily News. But, that was a
larger daily paper. I think that I did previously the same role where I
answered phones, rewrite, did high school stories, and go cover high school
stuff. That is how I started.
Q: Were you a sports athlete yourself? Why are you in the
sports industry?
A: Well, coming out of college I wasn’t quite sure what I
wanted to do, as I think many people are. And I took it as my job to figure out
what I wanted to do. I just wanted to sort of combine my enjoyment of writing
as with my enjoyment of sports. It seemed like a good outlet to start in.
Q: How did you get a job as a sports editor?
A: At the Middlesex news I went from a freelancer to full-time
writer. I was hired I think in 1991, and about three years later the sports
editor moved over to the news side to become the managing editor of the paper.
And I was named sports editor at that time at the Middlesex News. And then
about five years later a job opened up at the Herald as the night sports editor
which technically in charge of the paper at night. The operation at night. So I
took that job about five years after that. The sports editor moved on and the
deputy editor moved into his spot and I moved into the deputy sports editors
spot. So, that is my current job.
Q: Are you still a big Boston sports fan?
A: I enjoy the sports yeah mean. I enjoy the teams and
everything that goes on. Once you get into the business you tend to not be a
fan, you know what I mean? I think you are a fan of sports and what you are
doing. But, you are not a fan in the sense that you are rooting for a team as a
fan might you know. You kind of have to sort of step back and take it from a
much more even keeled perspective because you can access what is going on. From
a positive and sort of negative perspective. Because you kind of change from
your sort of tradition definition of a fan. I think most people that certainly
get into this business begin as fans.
Q: What is your favorite perk with this job?
A: Being able to be credentialed for games or big events.
Although when I do go to an event it’s in a working capacity. But, I can go and
watch high level sports teams for free. And you get a pretty good seat. When I
first started I did do a lot of Celtics games. It is funny you brought up Mark.
I actually met him covering the Celtics when I worked for Middlesex News. The
seats there used to be right on the court. Now they kind of put you up in the
stands a little bit. But, the seats now sell for a couple thousand dollars.
That is where the press table was. Those were great. You cannot watch a game
from seats better than that.
Q: Now, when you were growing up who was your favorite
sports writer?
A: To be honest with you when I was growing up reading the
paper. I did grow up in Connecticut. So, the local paper did use a lot of wire
for the sports teams. It was actually Yankee country so there was a lot of
Yankee stories and it was Yankee oriented where I was more of a Red Sox fan. I
really didn’t have one. As I got a little bit older as I moved to this area I
would read guys like Gerry Callahan in the Herald and Peter Gammons. Those guys
were great.
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