Chris Murphy Remembered

Pirates honor one of their own

The assistant director of undergraduate admissions at East Carolina University has died after being hit by a car on the Outer Banks over the weekend.

Chris Murphy, 37, died Sunday evening at Sentara Hospital in Norfolk, Va., after being hit by a taxi in the 2300 block of South Croatan Highway in Nags Head on Saturday around 9:30 p.m., according to Nags Head police. Nags Head Police Chief Kevin Brinkley said Monday that the taxi driver told police that he didn’t see anyone in the road before the accident.

Brinkley said the speed limit is 50 miles per hour along that section of highway with restaurants and shops, including Kelly’s Outer Banks Restaurant & Tavern and the Christmas Mouse.

Chris Murphy

Dare MedFlight airlifted Murphy Saturday night to Sentara Hospital, where he died around 6:30 p.m. Sunday from his injuries, Brinkley said.

Nags Head police are continuing to investigate the accident; no charges have been filed at this time.

“The town of Nags Head and the police department sends our condolences to the ECU community and his family,” Brinkley said Monday. “I just learned this morning how active he was at ECU and with the Pirates.”

Not only was Murphy an ECU employee, he was also a graduate, earning his undergraduate business degree in 1996 and a 2010 master’s degree in health and human performance, exercise and sport science, according to the East Carolina Alumni Association.

The Dowdy Student Stores on Monday handed out purple, gold and black ribbons for people to wear and remember Murphy, who had worked at ECU for seven years.

Anthony Britt, director of admission at ECU, remembered Murphy as “a genuinely good guy. He was truly a Southern gentleman and a Pirate in the finest tradition.”

“Chris was probably, truly a rare commodity in today’s world. He genuinely loved his job – working with students and telling the ECU story; he was so proud of the university,” said Britt.

“I can remember when Chris interviewed for his job, he said I bleed purple and gold. And there never was a truer statement. He was a Pirate through and through,” Britt said.

Murphy worked recruiting students to ECU, focusing on Virginia. “He always took an extra interest in the students from the Tidewater area, since that was where he was from. He grew up in Wakefield, Va.,” Britt said.

“I can’t tell you how many parents and students have come up to me during orientation or the first week of school and said Chris Murphy is the reason that we are here today. He was so passionate about the university so we had to come down and see it for ourselves,” Britt said.

During orientation, Murphy often saw some of those same students he had recruited when he worked as part of the Admissions staff helping to shepherd the new students through orientation, which is housed in the Office of Student Transitions and First Year Programs.

Britt said one of the things that not everyone knew about Murphy was that he had attended every football game since he graduated, but he never entered the stadium.

“He tailgated but didn’t go into the games. He listened to it on the radio from his tailgating spot at the corner of 14th and Elm streets. Anybody was welcome at his tailgate,” Britt said, including families visiting the campus or fellow Pirate fans just walking by. “I can’t tell you how many people’s hearts are broken in Greenville today.”

“If you ever met Chris,” Britt said, “you knew how proud he was to work for East Carolina University.”

Friends have posted a tribute video on YouTube:

###
A memorial service will be held at 6 p.m. July 18 in Harvey Hall at the Murphy Center. A toast will follow at 4th St Tavern.