Record-Breaking CCRI Alum and World-Renowned Artist Brendan Murphy Receives Athletic Alumni Award

05/13/2025

Warwick, RI – Brendan Murphy, former Smithfield, RI, resident and one of the most prolific scorers in the history of the Community College of Rhode Island’s men’s basketball program, was honored recently as the college’s Athletic Alumni Award recipient at the state’s 2024–25 Scholar-Athlete Awards ceremony hosted by House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi.

Held annually in the House Chamber of the Rhode Island State House, the Scholar-Athlete Awards provide public recognition for student-athletes from CCRI, Rhode Island College, and the University of Rhode Island for significant achievements in their academic and athletic pursuits.

Murphy, a class of 1992 graduate who was born in Indiana, but grew up in Rhode Island, rewrote the record books at CCRI, graduating as the school’s all-time leader in points scored (1,398), most points in a single game (49), most career three pointers (212), and most three pointers in a season (110).

While his single game and career points records have since been broken, Murphy’s three-point records remain; more than three decades since graduating, he’s still second on the all-time scoring list behind Marvin Owens, who broke his record in 2006, and also ranks on the college’s single-season scoring list with 724 points as a sophomore in 1991-92.

That same season, Murphy was named the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III Player of the Year and an NJCAA First-Team All American, one of eight in the program’s illustrious history dating back to 1965.

As a freshman, Murphy helped CCRI to a 24-6 record in 1990–91 and a trip to the NJCAA D-III National Tournament championship game, where the Knights narrowly lost to Herkimer, 108-105. Thanks to Murphy’s outstanding performance in the tournament, the 1990-91 team still holds the all-time NJCAA record for most points in a tournament game (122).

After graduating CCRI, Murphy transferred to Hawaii Pacific University, where he helped lead the Sharks to the 1992–93 NAIA national championship and was named the NAIA National Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

A self-taught painter and sculptor, Murphy played professional basketball in Europe and worked in New York City as a Wall Street trader before pursuing his true passion as a contemporary artist shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. With home-based studios in Malibu, CA, and Miami, FL, his work is represented in more than 600 private collections. Among his most notable collectors are Ryan Gosling, Larry Page, Warren Buffet, Serena Williams, Steve Lefkowitz, Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Bracken Darrell, Steph Curry, Scott Prince, and Ron Mark.

With a style best described as “art inspired from society, mathematics, and his own imagination,” Murphy in 2024 launched the iconic “Frozen with Desire” sculpture, which stands four feet tall and features 6,200 responsibly-sourced diamonds totaling 517 carats, setting a global record for the most diamonds on a single object. Murphy in 2022 also installed a 13-foot spaceman sculpture in Minute Maid Park Stadium, home of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros.

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