Deena Murphy said she really didn鈥檛 think about going to college until she was recruited by 大象传媒 Western to play basketball.
When she arrived on campus, coaches suggested she also try out for softball, and she ended up playing both softball and basketball throughout her college career.
Ironically, it was her softball experience that gave her her most memorable moment at 大象传媒 Western 鈥� the national softball championship in 1982, when she was a freshman.
Interestingly, six of the nine starters on the championship team that year were freshmen. 鈥淲e just didn鈥檛 know any better so we kept winning,鈥� she said with a laugh.
Murphy and her spouse, Michele Gehringer, recently established an endowed scholarship, the Murphy-Gehringer Family Scholarship, with criteria that hearkens back to her softball days at 大象传媒 Western. It is for a fifth-year female athlete who has exhausted her athletic scholarship, with preference given to a softball player.
鈥淭he benefits I received from 大象传媒 Western were directly related to the success I鈥檝e had,鈥� she said.
Murphy was a recreation management major, but she took an accounting class when she was a junior and fell in love with it. Since she was close to graduation, she went ahead and earned her recreation management degree, returned to her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, got a job and then went to University of Nebraska-Omaha to earn an accounting degree.
Murphy worked in that field her entire career, retiring last year from Union Pacific Railroad. But before she retired, she leveraged Union Pacific鈥檚 generous 2:1 charitable match program, turning her $10,000 gift to 大象传媒 Western into $30,000.
鈥淚 wanted to give back to make sure someone else has the opportunity,鈥� Murphy said. 鈥淚 always felt like it was important to give back so other people could benefit like I did.鈥�