Mighty Murph
Shapiro Retiring
When is it OK for a man who has received nearly everything he asked of life to
retire? To pack up the office full of memories covering six decades into the
cardboard boxes to spend more time with your four grandchildren and a fifth on
the way? If you're Bruce "Murph" Shapiro, that time is now.
From the Franklin High School class of 1957, Shapiro was an All Greater
Rochester basketball player back in the days when undersized white guards who
could shoot the lights out and average 20 points per game were all the rage.
He shared the spotlight with the great Al Butler at East High, who was,
according to Shapiro, the best basketball player Rochester ever produced hands
down. Murph recalls playing against Butler when Al had a broken left hand.
"Not only did I foul out with about ten minutes to go in the game, but he
wound up scoring 35 points with his hand that wasn't broken."
Butler left for Niagara University on his way to a four year NBA career. Murph
went to Miami and played in the 1960 NCAA Basketball Tournament back when it
was a 25 team event. Jerry Lucas led Ohio State to the title that year.
Shapiro was good enough and loved being a college player, but skipped his
senior year to concentrate on his studies. He had plans to return home.
"At that time if you didn't have a job when you came out of college, you
went into the service. Luckily I got a job teaching elementary school in East
Irondequoit and Al Massino asked me to help him coach at the high school
level."
He moved back to the city as the head coach at Monroe High School, then onto
a sixteen year career coaching basketball at MCC, where he got the chance to
merge the experiences.
"To be able to work with the city kids and the county kids and put them
together and have them play the kind of basketball I liked to coach, was
terrific. And they were great kids. They enjoyed playing with one another. Some
of these kids ever played with a city kid and visa versa. It was
terrific." Together they won 329 games. All the while Shapiro kept a
national profile as a big time college basketball referee.
Shapiro became athletic director at MCC in 1991. He's going out on top. Tribune
teams won 99 regional and 13 national championships under Murph. MCC placed in
the top two among all junior colleges in overall athletic success the last four
years running.
"Our coaching staff here does a terrific job. They make you proud every
time they go out to coach a team. They're the heros here, not me."
People close to the Mighty Murph know better.