Duke Basketball Report · Oct 27, 2019
You Tube Gold: Calvin Murphy’s Other Passion
Calvin Murphy as a Houston RocketFormer Niagara and Houston Rocket Calvin Murphy was highly regarded in the NBA for first being a superb guard and second for being a guy totally willing to start a fight despite being just 5-7. Many guys, including Sidney Wicks, who was 14 inches taller, learned not to cross Murphy.
Among his talents, Murphy had superb hand speed and coordination, as Wicks learned.
Part of the reason the diminutive Murphy had such great hands was because of his other (and by NBA standards highly unusual) talent: he was a world-class baton twirler.
Murphy said his mother and six sisters “bullied” him into it but he became extraordinarily good at it, winning major competitions.