Schools

Coginchaug Football Team to Honor Sergeant James Murphy, BHS Grad

Murphy, a radio operator in the United States Air Force between 1950-1954, has been named Honorary Captain for the Blue Devils' home game on Saturday against East Hampton/Vinal Tech.

The Coginchaug football team is proud to announce that Sergeant James Murphy will serve as the Honorary Captain for the Blue Devils’ game against East Hampton/Vinal Tech this weekend.

Saturday's kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. at Coginchaug.

Sergeant Murphy, a Branford native, served as a radio operator in the United States Air Force from 1950-1954. He logged over 4,000 hours of flight time in B-29 Superfortresses.  Typical missions lasted from between 12 and 20 hours and many of those missions remain “classified” to this day.   

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Before enlisting in the Air Force, Sergeant Murphy captained the football, basketball and baseball teams at Branford High School.  He was inducted into the Branford Hall of Fame in 1995.

After his discharge in 1954, Sergeant Murphy married Mary Garity. He then founded the T.J. Mar Company which developed and produced industrial cleaning products for manufacturers such as Marlin Firearms. He and Mary have four children. One of their five grandchildren is Ryan Murphy who starts at right offensive-tackle for the Blue Devils.

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Submitted by Coach John Bozzi

Editor's Note: Last week, Coginchaug honored Maj. Valerie Smith of Montville. You can read about her service here.


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