How do you honor a person who has made a major impact on your life?
Some have statues erected. Others name buildings, roads or stadiums after them. But if you are Tommy Murphy, who played for legendary Bolles coach Corky Rogers, you name a racehorse after him.
After his career at Bolles, Murphy attended the University of Louisville and found himself gravitating toward the equine business program just miles away from Churchill Downs.
“It just kind of all fell into my lap since I got to Louisville,” Murphy said. “So it’s weird. not really growing up in the equine world, being from Jacksonville and it just kind of just happened it’s really weird to think about, and looking back on it, I can’t believe actually did it, but it’s worked out great. And I love it.”
Murphy’s family owns a 25% share of several horses via Sea Warrior Stables along with West Point Thoroughbreds, who train at the home of the Kentucky Derby. And when he saw this particular horse, he was immediately drawn to him.
“He had the high white socks (a trademark look for Rogers during practice and games) in the back, and I kind of thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool to be next to name horse Coach Rogers,” Murphy said. “And so that all kind of came together. And that’s how we submitted the name and the story behind it and what he meant to me — not just me, but a whole lot of people. I’m also working for the trainer as a groom, so I see him every day, I’m hands-on with him, making sure he’s getting well taken care of and everything getting ready for his first race.”
Murphy says Coach Rogers the horse exhibits some of the personality traits that the great high school coaching legend did for so many years at Lee and at Bolles.
“He kind of has a quiet confidence to him,” Murphy said. ”If you knew Coach Rogers, or you played for him, he always had a presence to him, whether he was speaking to you or just kind of standing there quietly observing. And I feel like the horse is quite similar to that. He’s very observant. He’s always taking in his surroundings. That was kind of the first thing that caught my attention. He looks like a really smart horse. So hopefully he can live up to the name, to the legend, that is Coach Rogers.”
Coach Rogers is set to start his first race on Friday. He’s being trained by Dale Romans, who trained 2011 Preakness winner Shackleford. While the two-year-old has a long way to go, who knows what he might be doing next spring.
“If he keeps winning and winning and winning, you keep moving up into stakes races. The Kentucky Derby is one of the biggest ones in the world and most well known,” Murphy said. “So hopefully, he can live up to his name or and win a lot of big races and hopefully we can see him around the first Saturday in May 2023.”
The Rogers family was very supportive of the name. Rogers’ grandson Mason Yost, who played with Murphy at Bolles made the trip to Louisville to meet the horse named for his legendary grandfather.