Finding sports equality

BUILDING IT FORWARD: Margaret "Digit" Murphy takes a moment in a construction trailer at the New England Sports Village site in Attleboro, a $53 million complex that will include hockey rinks and offices for her mentoring enterprise, the Play It Forward Foundation. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
BUILDING IT FORWARD: Margaret "Digit" Murphy takes a moment in a construction trailer at the New England Sports Village site in Attleboro, a $53 million complex that will include hockey rinks and offices for her mentoring enterprise, the Play It Forward Foundation. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

It doesn’t take long for people to buy in to Margaret “Digit” Murphy’s viewpoint. She has a gift when it comes to motivating others.

“Her philosophies and passion to inspire women [have] resulted in great forward progress for all female athletes today,” said Beth McCann, head women’s ice hockey coach at Salve Regina University in Newport.

Murphy’s enthusiasm, energy and passion for gender equity in sports spans more than 30 years as a successful hockey player, coach and mentor. Now she’s taking on a new challenge, and a new sport, helping to launch the United Women’s Lacrosse League – the first professional women’s lacrosse league in the world.

“It’s these girls who have dreamt to become players, leaders and role models when they get older,” said Murphy, a Cranston native. “It’s kind of cool.” And helping them is Murphy’s dream come true.

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The lacrosse league debuts May 28, creating more than 100 opportunities for women to work in professional sports. It’s also the first league to launch under the newly formed United Women’s Sports, an LLC co-founded by Murphy and her partner Aronda Kirby. The goal is to establish and operate more professional leagues, opening more doors for women.

Murphy calls this latest venture “Title IX 2.0,” her take on a law passed in the 1970s requiring gender equity in federally funded programs at educational institutions. And although Title IX has been around for more than four decades, gender equity remains a hot-button issue, especially after college.

For example, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation, the minimum salary for a WNBA player in 2015 was $38,913. The NBA minimum in 2015-2016 was $525,093.

To bridge the gender gap, Murphy co-created the Play It Forward Sports Foundation, a nonprofit that helps elite, professional athletes get paid to compete and to put forward their skills as brand ambassadors for community causes. This new model is used by United Women’s Sports and is helping to generate more chances for women as professional athletes, managers and executives in the sports industry.

“It’s that middle-management level – not only in sports but in business – where we have a huge opportunity to grow women in leadership,” Murphy said.

Her efforts are getting a boost as part of the $53 million New England Sports Village in Attleboro, which will house hockey rinks and offices for the Play It Forward Foundation, allowing her to mentor hockey players and other athletes.

Murphy was the first women’s head ice hockey coach at Brown University, leading the team to national prominence. She later became the first female in Division I hockey to apply for the men’s head coach position, although she didn’t get the job. Finally, after 24 years at Brown, she retired and coached three more years in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, winning two titles with the Boston Blades – the first head coach to do so.

“She has been very influential in my athletic career,” said Katie King, a former player for Murphy, who is now head coach of the Boston College women’s ice hockey team. “During college, she helped support me as a player and a leader. She always wanted me to be successful … and helped make sure I had all the tools to do that.”

Murphy eventually left coaching to focus more on mentoring and has been creating new opportunities for female athletes ever since. She continues to work with USA Hockey to develop the training curriculum for its coaching mentorship program.

“Sports gave me that confidence and the ability to bridge that gender gap, and I want to give that to other women and talk about it,” said Murphy. “There’s a lot of great women that have great things to say in the sports business.”

In addition, Murphy is also helping to grow and develop youth sports opportunities in schools and communities across the United States. Since 1992, her business, Digit Murphy Athletics, has helped launch several girls’ hockey programs in public schools and created the first all-girls’ Tier 1 program and high school development league in Rhode Island.

It’s a job and a mission that never ends.

“I feel like there is not enough time to get my messaging out,” said Murphy. “People say I’m a workaholic, I say I’m a passion-aholic.” •

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