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QB Club gives
booster a boost

HOW did they get him to sit through this? They kept coming up to laud him, one after another, again and again. Murph sat there red-faced, eyes downcast, head forward shyly, as if he was hoping to duck under all those leis.

But there would be no hiding. Not this man. Not today.

"If he were in a club," former Hawaii athletic director Paul Durham was saying, "he would be president."

Wait a minute. Don Murphy is in a club. And he is the president.

(The popular restauranteur has been the head of the Ahahui Koa Anuenue and Na Koa clubs, making him UH's biggest booster.)

"If he ran for office," Durham continued, "his opponent would concede!"

(Yes, his personal impact has gone beyond fund-raising and sitting on boards.)

"If he were in jail," Durham explained, "the warden would bring him lunch."

(He's just that nice a guy.)

And the list went on and on.

Murph blushed. He ducked some more.

"Don I know you don't like this kind of day," June Jones said. "But I'm glad you're having it."

Yesterday was Don Murphy day at the Honolulu Quarterback Club.

And they kept coming up.

"We can't begin to thank him for all he's done for our programs," UH athletic director Herman Frazier said.

"Murph can do a lot of things," Jones said. "He's kicking (for UH) this year."

"The most generous man I know," a letter from UH baseball coach Mike Trapasso read.

"If he were broke," Durham continued, "the bums on the corner would take up a collection."

Everyone had a kind word.

"Two words," said Rainbow Wahine basketball coach Jim Bolla: "Peach cobbler."

Yes, the tributes just kept coming.

"He's like Chicken Man," KKEA radio's Don Robbs said.

We're with you.

"Remember the old 'Chicken Man' on Aku? The radio character?

"Don Murphy's everywhere," Robbs said.

THANK GOODNESS FOR Bob Nash.

"Riley didn't retire," Nash deadpanned, in case anybody was wondering why he was making the speech in place of the out-of-town head coach.

But Nash didn't just bring down the house. He didn't just ceremoniously present Murphy with an official Rainbow basketball apron.

He also let us in on the secret.

"Don has everybody in Hawaii fooled," Nash said. "Everybody thinks he's this great humanitarian. But in actuality all he's doing is his 'honey, do' list."

"You probably noticed Marion isn't here today," Robbs said. "Because Don is afraid she'd overshadow him."

"Before Don and his wife were married," Durham said, "they decided she would solve all the minor problems and he would solve all the big ones.

"And luckily, they've never had a big problem."

At last we know the secret of Don Murphy's success.

AND YET, EVEN for someone married to Marion, it's still stunning that there is always another benefit event, always another cause, never a break from boosting all those UH sports.

Durham called him "king of the Rainbow Warriors."

"Don Murphy hasn't been here (in Hawaii) all that long," Robbs said. "And yet, it feels like he's been here forever."

"You could have a note from your mother," KKEA's Bobby Curran said, "and Murph would probably close the shop and have a fund-raiser for you."

"He remembers you," Wahine softball coach Bob Coolen said.

There has to be an explanation for that.

"He doesn't immerse himself in causes just to keep busy," Robbs said. "He does it because he believes."

"His heart is one of a kind," Jones said. "And I have a son. And I would just hope that one day my son grows up to have inside of him what this man has."

How good of a guy is Don Murphy?

"If he were old and beat up," Durham said, "his friends would meet him on the street and say, 'My God, you're looking good!' "

There may be no greater tribute than that.