Frank Murphy won silver medals at the 1969 European Athletics Championships in Athens - becoming the first Irishman to break 3 minutes 40 seconds for the 1,500 metres - and at the 1970 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Vienna, and competed at two Olympic Games: the 1968 Mexico City Games (1,500 metres) and the 1972 Munich Games (800 metres and 1,500 metres).
He bridged the gap in Irish middle-distance running between Ronnie Delany in the 1950s and Eamonn Coghlan in the 1970s, becoming the fourth Irish athlete to break the four-minute mile barrier when he ran 3:58.7 in Philadelphia on 1 June 1968. He won thirteen Irish titles across the 800 metres, 1,500 metres and mile during a career spanning more than a decade. His influence extended beyond his own performances: his success at Villanova University directly inspired Coghlan to follow the same scholarship path, a trail later followed by Marcus O'Sullivan and Sonia O'Sullivan.
He attended O'Connell Schools before taking up a Villanova scholarship in 1966, where he won the NCAA indoor 880 yards title in 1969 and was a member of teams that won the indoor medley relay title twice and the cross-country title three times. In 1968 he set a 1,500m Irish record of 3:41.49 before lowering it further to 3:39.5 in Athens in 1969. His 1,500m personal best of 3:38.5 was set in Athens in 1972, just before the Munich Games.
He was inducted into the Athletics Ireland Hall of Fame in 2014.
He passed away on 5 January 2017.
Athletics
