Murphy returns from Austria with a medal

Brian Murphy was able to experience a once in a lifetime opportunity earlier this month and he was able to bring home something to show for it.

Murphy, who went to the Special Olympics Sommerspiele, brought home a silver medal in golf after 18 holes of play.

Over the last 50 years, the Special Olympics has helped athletes with intellectual disabilities try new sports and travel the world. Murphy suffered from medulloblastoma when he was 8 years old. Medulloblastoma is a type of brain cancer and it damaged an area of the brain that aids in development. He and his coach and teammate, Tom Harrison, were able to go to Austria from June 5 to 12 and play golf as well as enjoy the country.

The pair shot well enough for a silver medal, or second overall, but as competitors they each thought that they left some shots on the course.

“It was a great opportunity, but the thing was how nervous I was,” Murphy said. “Playing on Cocopah I can do a lot better. I’m used to it.”

“The course was very pretty and very nice. The people were amazing. They took such good care of us,” Harrison said.

During the week they were able to get to Salzburg for a day. They visited Hohensalzburg Castle, which is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe.

A local kindergarten class picked up the original story about Murphy in The Sun last month. After learning about Murphy, they looked him up and met him and Harrison at the closing ceremonies.

As a part of the closing ceremonies, they celebrated with the 1,500 competitors, 1,200 volunteers, and 10,000 who people attended the final night. The athletes were spread out over 15 venues in competition, came from much of Europe and played nearly any summer sport one could think of.

“I was amazed,” Murphy said. “Phoenix does a pretty huge thing for closing and opening ceremonies for the athletes, but this was big. This was huge.”