John Joseph MURPHY

After his bronze in the 100 m backstroke, John Murphy finished fourth in the 100 m freestyle at the 1972 Games, narrowly missing the distinction of winning Olympic individual medals in two very different styles of swimming. Murphy attended Indiana University and won silver medals in the 100 m backstroke at the 1971 Pan American Games and the 1975 World Championships. At the 1971 PanAm Games he was also on the gold medal winning 4×100 metres medley team (with Brian Job, Jerry Heidenreich, and the non-Olympian Frank Heckl). At the World Championships Murphy won three gold medal in the 4×100 metres freestyle (with Joe Bottom, Jim Montgomery, and the non-Olympian Mel Nash) in 1973 and in the 4×100 metres freestyle (with Jim Montgomery, Bruce Furniss, and the non-Olympian Andy Coan) as well as in the 4×100 metres medley (with Rick Colella and the non-Olympians Greg Jagenburg and Andy Coan) in 1975.