Indiana University Athletics
Murphy, Luck to Appear at NFF Scholar Athlete Banquet
3/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Southern Indiana Chapter of the National Football Foundation has both sides of the line covered for its 2015 Scholar Athlete Banquet. Former college and pro Quarterback Oliver Luck, now NCAA Executive Vice President for Regulatory Affairs, and graduating Indiana safety Mark Murphy, an Academic All-America, will speak at the banquet, set for April 12 at St. Mary's Health Manor in Evansville. The event will open with a social hour at 4 p.m. Central Time, and the banquet will begin at 5 p.m. Central Time.
Luck and Murphy earned NFF Scholar Athlete awards during their college careers.
"We are thrilled to have Oliver and Mark joining us to honor our 2015 High School Scholar Athletes," said Mike Skvara, president of the Southern Indiana Chapter. "They are outstanding men who represent the chapter in a very impressive way. We hope that people across Southern Indiana and Western Kentucky will make plans to attend - to help us welcome them, and to celebrate an outstanding group of scholar athletes."
Mark Murphy As a senior last fall, Murphy started 11 games for the Hoosiers and piled up 49 tackles - 30 of them solo stops - with 2.5 tackles for loss, a pair of pass breakups and two interceptions - including a 47-yard interception return for a touchdown against Penn State. He was one of 17 recipients of the National Football Foundation's National Scholar-Athlete Award.
Murphy started 42 times and played in 47 career games. He recorded 279 tackles, 174 solo, one sack, seven tackles for loss, four interceptions, two INT touchdown returns, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and nine pass breakups. Murphy became the third Hoosier to collect Capital One Academic All-America honors twice - Will Meyers (2005-06) and John Hammerstein (1994-95).
The Akron, Ohio, native attended St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, where he was an Akron Beacon Journal Top 25 All-Star and a Cleveland Plain Dealer Dream Team honoree as a senior.
Oliver Luck Luck is native of Cleveland, Ohio; a graduate of St. Ignatius High School; and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of West Virginia University, where he led the Mountaineers to a 26-6 upset of Florida in the 1981 Peach Bowl, his final college game.
The NFF selected Luck to deliver a keynote speech at its 1982 convention as one of its Scholar Athletes. He also earned a Today's Top Five Award from the NCAA - all after throwing for more than 2,400 yards and 16 touchdowns during his senior campaign. He left WVU with 5,765 career passing yards and 43 touchdowns, and he was selected in the second round of the NFL draft by the Houston Oilers, who made him the 44th overall pick.
After playing four seasons for the Oilers, luck retired and joined the National Football League as vice-president of business development. When the NFL created an international presence through the World League of American Football, later known as NFL Europe, Luck served as general manager of teams in Frankfurt and Rhein, Germany, before becoming President and CEO of NFL Europe in 1996.
After more than a decade with the NFL, Luck returned to Houston as CEO of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority in 2001. In 2005, he became the first president of the Houston Dynamos of Major League Soccer. The Dynamos won MLS Cup titles during his first two seasons as president.
Luck returned to Morgantown, W.Va., in 2010 to become director of athletics at his alma mater. His efforts resulted in commitments that will lead to $106 million in facility improvements when all projects are completed. He also led the Mountaineers' move to the Big 12 Conference.
In 2013, he was named to the inaugural College Football Playoff Committee, which completed the first-ever National Collegiate Championship in football with Ohio State's upset victory over Oregon. And in May 2014, he served as a featured speaker during the Healthy Kids and Safe Sports Concussion Summit, held at the White House.
Joining the NCAA staff gives Luck regular opportunities to spend time with and root for his son Andrew, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft by the Indianapolis Colts. He and his wife Kathy have another son, Addison, and two daughters - Emily and Mary Ellen.
The Southern Indiana Chapter will announce its High School Scholar Athletes in the near future. Tickets for the banquet are $35 per person. Tickets and sponsorships are available now from chapter president Mike Skvara at (812) 499-0681. You also may contact him by email at coachskvara@hotmail.com
To join the Southern Indiana Chapter and learn more about the National Football Foundation go to www.footballfoundation.org.
