Frank Murtaugh

Memphis

Managing Editor at Memphis: The City Magazine

Managing editor, @memphismagazine; sportswriter for @MemphisFlyer. Author of "Trey's Company," a novel published in 2017. https://t.co/dmYHp8LIkE

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Articles

Meet the 2025 CEOs of the Year

1 week ago | memphismagazine.com | Michael Finger |Abigail Morici |Frank Murtaugh |Jon W. Sparks

For more than a decade, Memphis Magazine has celebrated a group of CEOs every year, recognizing visionaries and executives who go above and beyond to elevate their companies and their community. And every year, we gather these leaders at a sponsored awards breakfast to honor them in front of their peers and the community. The challenge is in deciding which of them should receive the honor.
901 Health: Joint Effort

4 weeks ago | memphismagazine.com | Frank Murtaugh

Whenever I experience joint discomfort, my thoughts turn to The Wizard of Oz and, specifically, the Tin Man. As a knee or shoulder protests a certain motion, I’d like a doctor, or a friend, or my wife — anyone, please — to simply squirt a little oil on the area in need … and I’ll be on my way. Human joints don’t operate on oil, alas.
Cardinals Visit Redbirds’ Nest

1 month ago | memphisflyer.com | Frank Murtaugh

What a strange offseason it was for the St. Louis Cardinals. Following a mediocre 2024 season (83-79), the Memphis Redbirds’ parent club announced a new day had arrived, one in which development will be emphasized over spending for the big-league roster.
Shakespeare in the Room

2 months ago | memphismagazine.com | Frank Murtaugh

They say it takes a village to raise a child. But what about a stage? Thanks in large part to Tennessee Shakespeare Company, my wife and I raised our two daughters with access to the most remarkable theater we’ve known in the English language. Young parents set priorities. Upon becoming a father in 1999, I committed myself to spending as much time with my child at a ballpark as I could (a second daughter arrived in 2002).
Haggerty is “Him”

Feb 3, 2025 | memphisflyer.com | Frank Murtaugh

In seven years as basketball coach at his alma mater, Penny Hardaway hasn’t always delivered March Madness for the University of Memphis. But let it be said he has delivered star power. The Tigers have featured a first-team all-conference player in each of Hardaway’s first six seasons and will all but certainly make it seven straight this March when current headliner PJ Haggerty gains the honor from the American Athletic Conference. It would be an unprecedented streak for the proud program.
Of Fathers and Faulkner

Jan 15, 2025 | memphisflyer.com | Frank Murtaugh

For two decades, I have begun the calendar year by reading a William Faulkner novel. My father died in September 2005, and he loved Faulkner. Reading stories by the Nobel Prize-winning author is a method for having a conversation with Dad, even if it’s internal, entirely private. Flem Snopes, after all, demands discussion. Furthermore, the American South’s greatest scribe helps me connect more deeply to the place where I live and the people who occupy the Mid-South, both present and past.
Missing Elvis

Jan 8, 2025 | memphismagazine.com | Frank Murtaugh

I miss Elvis Presley this time of year. The older I get — currently 55 — the younger Elvis was (42) when he died. So yes, Elvis Week — be it January or August — grabs my heartstrings, from the tribute artists to the candlelight vigil, from the random t-shirts (Elvis with Bigfoot?) to the Elvis Presley 5K … a distance I’m rather certain the King never ran himself.
Scores Galore

Dec 12, 2024 | memphismagazine.com | Frank Murtaugh

Any 12 months of sports in the Bluff City are colorful. Basketball, baseball, football. Grizzlies, Redbirds, Tigers. And that's just scratching the proverbial surface. If a picture says a thousand words, stellar sports photography generally shouts those words. We gathered a small collection of such shots from just one local shutterbug. Can you smell the popcorn?
Searching for the Bear

Nov 20, 2024 | memphismagazine.com | Frank Murtaugh

It took me more than three decades and a 250-mile drive from Memphis into the heart of Alabama, but I have proof that Bear Bryant was, in fact, mortal. Not long ago, I paid a visit to Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham and on a gray, rainy Saturday afternoon, found the resting place of college football’s most iconic coach, certainly as measured in the Yellowhammer State (or those states bordering it). Legends, they tell us, never die. But men do. And Paul W.
Three Thoughts on Memphis Tiger Football: 11/11/24

Nov 11, 2024 | memphisflyer.com | Frank Murtaugh

The Memphis Tigers desperately need a rivalry game. With no regional SEC foe (Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Tennessee) on this year’s schedule, the closest we’ll see are UAB and Tulane, a pair of teams in green to wrap up the regular season. The Tigers host the Blazers Saturday night, then travel to New Orleans to face the Green Wave on Thanksgiving. How can you identify a “rivalry game”? There’s buzz in the stadium before kickoff.