Frosh-soph basketball coach Lou Murgo sweeps three Hall of Fames
His life is a long journey that is full of outstanding accomplishments. Lou Murgo, the Aragon frosh-soph basketball coach, started his journey in a small town in Rhode Island. “It was a small town, close met, athletics was the center of everything,” says Murgo.
His love for playing baseball and basketball started at the local YMCA when he was a child. “The local YMCA was the local hangout,” says Murgo.
He then attended Bristol High School in Bristol, Rhode Island, where he was a tri- athlete in football, basketball, and baseball.
During his time at Bristol High School, Murgo was named the top student athlete in Rhode Island by the Providence Journal.
Murgo not only excelled in sports at school, but also followed professional sports closely.
“The Celtics were only 60 miles away. Everybody followed Bob Couzy and Bill Russell. The Celtic team was popular,” reflects Murgo.
“I grew up a Yankees fan, I came from a strong Italian town and we rooted on Italian Yankees like Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, and Yogi Berra,” says Murgo.
After Murgo’s days as a high school student, he earned a partial scholarship at Brown University to play basketball and baseball. At Brown, Murgo broke the all-time scoring record for basketball and was later named a part of Brown University’s 1950’s decade team.
In baseball, Murgo excelled as a shortstop. But being a student-athlete at an Ivy League school wasn’t easy. “I wasn’t an A student,” says Murgo. “The first few years were difficult, but I got used to it.”
In 1954, Murgo graduated from Brown University and was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles baseball club. A year later, Murgo played his first year of professional baseball in the minors.
He was stationed in Hawaii in the military during 1956. During the spring of 1957, he went back to minor league baseball and that was his last season in the minors at the age of 26.
“I was getting too old,” says Murgo. “I did well but I remember the organization demoted me because they had more faith in an up and coming 17-year-old.”
During his days in the minors, he fondly recalls playing with Cal Ripken Sr., the father of the legendary Hall of Famer known as “Iron Man”, Cal Ripken Jr.
After Murgo’s two years as a minor leaguer, he decided to coach football, baseball and basketball back at his alma mater, Bristol High School.
Murgo says that his most memorable moment at Bristol High School was the coach at championship football game on Thanksgiving of 1961.
Interestingly, Murgo was against his older brother of eight and a half years, who was coaching Barrington High School, the rival of Bristol High School.
Murgo proudly recalls the 24-6 victory against his brother during the championship football game during Thanksgiving. Despite coaching against his older brother during that game he warmly says, “My older brother was always my idol.”
After coaching at Bristol High School, he then decided to coach at Barrington High School for six years as a basketball coach.
In 1968, Murgo came to the Bay Area with his wife, who is originally from San Francisco and whom he met while stationed in Hawaii. Later that year, he started coaching frosh-soph and varsity baseball and frosh-soph basketball and was also an English teacher up until his retirement in 1992.
Murgo currently coaches the Aragon frosh-soph basketball team only. He was recently given a place in the Aragon Hall of Fame. He also has received recognition as being a part of Bristol High School’s Hall of Fame and Brown University’s Hall of Fame.
At Aragon, Murgo has won three championships as a varsity baseball coach and ten league championships as a frosh-soph basketball coach and was the assistant coach of two CCS championship basketball teams.
Murgo has a tremendous love for sports and says that he will keep on coaching until “health says I can’t.” He lives an accomplished life and enjoys every moment of coaching.
