MURPH: The Protector

I got a phone call one day from the principal.

And he said, "Mrs. Murphy, I have to call you on this," he goes,

"but Mike's not really in trouble.

I have to tell you because we gotta report these things."

He says, "Mike was in a fight."

I know there was a kid in school at one point when he was younger

that they were bullying,

and he wouldn't put up with it.

Some of these kids were bullying a child

who was in--

who had learning disabilities.

So they were trying to stuff him in a locker,

you know, thinking it was funny.

And Mike came along and, you know, told them, "Let him go."

A lot of people say things about people that passed away

and they might rightfully be glorified,

but anything that has ever been said about Mike is spot-on true.

The little kid was really scared.

He was like-- you know, he thanked Mike.

He was Michael the protector. And that's what he was doing.

When we were lifeguards, we would have so-called "lifeguard parties."

And, you know, every now and then someone would get out of control.

And if there was a mismatch in a fight with someone,

Mike would make sure that it "evened out," let's say.

And he would, you know, stand to that guy's guard.

He was always very protective of people.

He reflected that in his whole life.

It was always "please" and "thank you"

and the protector image that he projected.

I said that, you know,

"You treat people the way you want to be treated."

Which was, "It's not about me, it's about you."

And he really was a protector.

This one person made such an impact

on everything, you know.

But he was the protector.

Maureen Murphy: Well, we moved to Patchogue

when Mike was about two and half.

And, you know, he was little.

And we had a house built.

And his room was up on the second floor.

And for a little man, I mean,

he couldn't wait to get his own room.

He went up into that room, into his first captain's bed,

'cause he wasn't gonna get the crib, you know,

and he went to bed, said good night, and that was it.

Never bothered for water or--

he was that kind of a kid. He was very mature even for a little guy.

Mike wasn't afraid of anything. He would just go and do it.

And once he got his mind set to it,

he was doing it and nobody was stopping him.

We took him into my neighbor's pool.

We didn't have a pool back then.

And he was like-- loved the water. He just loved it.

And one day he just walked over there

and thought he could go in it and dove in.

And I got in the water, picked him up.

And, you know, I see this little face looking at me through the water.

And I picked him up and I put the towel around him and I said,

"Don't do that. You can't go in there unless an adult goes in with you."

And as I turned to put the towel, he dove in again.

So he just was like a little water bug.

Mike is my cousin. We grew up together.

He lived five minutes from my house.

We went to middle school together. We went to high school together.

And he always had kids to play with. Even though he was an only child,

he always had, you know, cousins and friends to play with.

So my back yard was like the back yard for all the kids.

We were just playing roller hockey and stuff in his driveway.

And even then

he might not have been even the best skater at that time,

but he was diving, blocking shots, poke-checking, in your way.

He was the guy that got the skinned knee and kept going.

He had a group of friends.

I wouldn't say that Mike was the guy

that was jumping from friends to friends.

He had this core group of guys that were his buddies,

guys that remained his friends for the rest of his life.

Micheal Mistretta: When we were kids, we were playing football

across the street from his mother's house.

I launched a pass to him and it was so far to the right.

He actually dove and laid out like it was an ESPN commercial.

He disappeared into the hedges.

And I remember thinking to myself, "My God, what happened to Mike?"

He came out. He was full of blood, mud,

his shirt ripped, a hole in his pants.

Walked out, he went, "Touchdown!" and dropped the ball and walked away.

Mike was an only child for a long time.

And 10 years later I had John.

And he never said he wanted a brother or a sister,

but I think he really wanted a brother.

And I was in the hospital and I had John.

And that afternoon Mike comes walking in the hospital,

and it was really cute-- he bounces up on the side of the bed and he says,

"Mom, you made me the happiest kid. I have a brother."

Brought tears to my eyes.

John: I remember going to the games a lot.

And I remember at the football games,

of course football being in the fall and the winter,

sitting on the bench, watching Michael play

and also at the same time kind of feeling cold,

like, "How much longer do I have to be here? I'd rather be home,"

you know, play with toys or something

and, you know, in the nice, warm weather.

But, I mean, still watching him play. It was nice to watch him play.

Michael was such a good kid

that he would go with his father

on the slightest errands.

Dan would say, "Let's go across the street to 7-Eleven,"

and Michael would say, "Okay, Pop." And off they would go to 7-Eleven.

As a real young boy, he was always in a good mood,

always happy. And he was-- he was up for everything.

His dogs Blackie and Charlie--

he would tell you what was going on with them.

And he'd always be devoted to them, making sure they had water

and letting them out, making sure they were okay.

He was a great swimmer. And they had a pool in the back yard.

And he would do silly dives,

whether it was cannonballs or--

Dan used to do something called "pencil."

And Mike would do that because he was--

he loved swimming. He loved the water.

Michael Murphy.

Man: Come on, Michael, you're the youngest one there.

Woman: Good.

Where is he?

Daniel Murphy: It was chaotic and fun.

Typical Michael-- when the girls moved in,

they were-- I mean, they were-- I think Cathy was nine,

Kelly was 11 and Colleen was 12.

My dad passed away when I was younger.

And Aunt Maureen had taken me and my sisters

and gave us, you know, a family and a place to live.

Daniel: Their father had died of cancer.

Their mother had basically abandoned them.

And their grandmother literally wanted

to move them along.

Michael and I laughed

because she was so intent on getting them out of her house

that she delivered them to us in the middle of a snowstorm.

Mike gave up his room

and, you know, we became like brothers and sisters.

Daniel: "Mom, Dad, the girls have to stay somewhere.

I'll move out of the big room so they can go in that room."

And always helped me, you know, study.

If I didn't know something, he would help me, teach me.

He actually taught me to drive.

Scott Mactavish: Tell me more about that.

Yeah, my first car was his first car.

And he'd take me to a parking lot

of an abandoned supermarket or empty supermarket,

and he'd teach me to go in circles

and then venture out onto the roads.

- ( whistle tweets ) - Yes! Yes!

Sports was his thing. He loved it.

He played soccer. He wasn't wild about soccer,

but he loved baseball. He loved football and hockey, yeah.

Anything kind of dangerous he liked.

And so he made the football team. And Mike in high school

was not the Mike you see in a SEAL uniform.

Mike was kind of a wiry guy.

He was fierce. The hardest hitter.

Very small. He was a small guy, you know.

He didn't weigh all that much. But he played safety.

And he would just-- he would knock the crap out of people.

And he was fast too. He was really fast.

He lost his spot to, actually, Kristin's boyfriend at the time.

And he actually worked with him to make him a better football player.

That's who he was, you know. He knew this guy was taking his spot,

but he was gonna help him get better.

He stepped aside to let this freshman come up, and willingly,

and mentored him that entire season, because he knew

that he would be a better fit for the team in how he played.

Bogenshutz: After the last game, which they lost,

the coach came out and said to the team,

"You know what? You guys gave up.

Every one of you, leave your uniforms outside the door.

I don't even want to see you. Except for Michael Murphy.

You can come in and you can hand your uniform in,

'cause you're the only guy that continued

to give 100% out on that field all day long."

So this is Lake Ronkonkoma. This is where we worked.

The boys would swim out across the lake.

They would do it for their workouts. They would run all the way around.

So the lifeguard stand was right there

where that white stick is.

In my first year of lifeguard, he was the beach attendant.

And I didn't know any-- I was at Holtsville Pool.

I didn't know anybody. You know, I got there.

They walked me in. They sat me on a bench.

And I hear, "Keenan!" I'm like, "What? Where is this--?"

He was like, "Yo, it's Murph." I was like, "Hey, man, what's going on?"

Emmerich: He kind of liked the gig a little bit,

how everybody was lifeguards.

And he just from there, I guess,

what he thought was he just wanted to become a lifeguard.

And he worked out and he trained

and the next year he joined the lifeguarding staff.

And that was my first year.

And we all just became friends from that point forward.