Dennis Murphy, born in Shanghai China, 1926, was a sports entrepreneur, who was known for his involvement with founding professional sports leagues across North America, such as the American Basketball Association, The World Hockey Association, World Team Tennis, and Roller Hockey International. Murphy’s leagues were iconic for being innovative, short-lived, chaotic, and very ambitious.
The American Basketball Association was his first and longest endeavor, innovating the 3-point shot, The Slam dunk contest, and the Spencer Haywood Hardship Rule, which allowed young rookies to enter the league only one year after their high school graduation instead of being eligible after four years of college. After nine years of operation four of the ABA’s most prominent teams ended up merging with the NBA, The Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets, and San Antonio Spurs.
After Basketball Murphy had his sights set on professional ice hockey. The World Hockey Association fought a seven-year war against the National Hockey League. They capitalized on unused Canadian Markets, fought the NHL’s reserve clause in court which bound a player to their team for life, and paved the way for European players to come over to North America. The WHA was also known for letting young players sign into the league in its later years such as Wayne Gretzky, and Mark Messier. After seven years the WHA merged with NHL, with the NHL absorbing four of the most successful markets (Three of which were Canadian markets), The Hartford Whalers, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, and Quebec Nordiques.
In 1993, Murphy sought to capitalize on the inline skating boom of the 1990s. Murphy saw the potential for inline skating to become more popular than ice hockey and worked quickly to establish Roller Hockey International. Teams would not have guaranteed contracts but would instead split prize money and the league had plans to expand into Europe. Unfortunately, the RHI became known for poor attendance resulting in unstable franchises, mass expansion, relocation, and teams going defunct. After going through 6 seasons and 31 different teams the RHI ceased operations in 2001.
Dennis Murphy died on July 15th, 2021 at the age of 94, and is remembered for being one of the most influential people in sports history across North America. No league was too big or established for him to challenge and although none of his leagues lasted more than a decade the changes he brought to each sport will last forever.