Calvin Murphy

Calvin Jerome Murphy, born May 9, 1948, is an American former professional basketball player who competed as a guard from 1970 to 1983. He played his high school basketball at Norwalk High School before a prolific collegiate career at Niagara University, where he averaged 33.1 points per game over his three years. Murphy spent his entire National Basketball Association career with the San Diego/Houston Rockets, beginning in 1970 and finishing in 1983. Standing 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m), he holds the distinction of being the shortest player to appear in an NBA All-Star Game, a mark since tied by Isaiah Thomas in 2016.

Before basketball, Murphy was a world-class baton twirler. He has said he was "bullied into it," as his mother and all six of her sisters were twirlers. As an eighth grader, in 1963, he won a national championship in baton twirling, and his reputation earned him invitations to perform at major sporting events and at the 1964 New York World's Fair. In 1977, at the height of his basketball career in Houston, he won the Texas State Men's Twirling Championship.

Murphy is a member of the Houston Rockets' Space City Home Network broadcast team. He is the shortest NBA player inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.