TROY —Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr., chancellor of Troy University, was inducted Sunday into the Hall of Fame of his alma mater, Murphy High School, in a ceremony held on the school’s campus in Mobile.

 “I am flattered and humbled by this award,” Dr. Hawkins, MHS class of 1963, said at the induction ceremony. “My years at Murphy were very important to me. I will always cherish this honor.”

Dr. Hawkins said because his days at Murphy predated the social upheaval of the late 1960s, he compared his “innocent” high school days to a scene from the movie “American Graffiti.”

“There was serious work going on as our teachers were preparing us to enter ‘The Real World,’” Dr. Hawkins said. “My teachers at Murphy selected their words wisely and taught by example. Their example was powerful, for they taught me leadership is about the ‘walk’ and not the ‘talk.’” 

Dr. Hawkins was one of six honorees in the 2005 class. Others inducted were:

• Ira “Eb” Swingle, musician and teacher;
• Dr. James Tucker, ophthalmologist and major general (retired) U.S. Air Force Medical Corps;
• the late Edith Marechal Murphy teacher of Latin and mathematics and wife of S.S. Murphy, for whom the school was named;
• the late Dr. Randall H. Nelson, former chair of the political science department at the University of Southern Illinois ; and
• the late Casimir P. Newdome, former Murphy coach and a community leader.

The hall of fame was established in 2001 by the Murphy Alumni Association Inc. Twenty-seven alumni have been inducted into its ranks.