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SYCUAN CHIEF HANK MURPHY Biography & Web Blog
Hank Murphy, Kumeyaay, founded the Sycuan Fire Department SFD in 1974 and has served on the Sycuan tribal government for more than 30 years — Mr. Murphy celebrated the department's 35th anniversary in 2009.
Chief Murphy currently heads the Sycuan Fire Department, including the elite Sycuan-BIA Golden Eagles Hotshots IHC air and wildland fire-fighting divisions on the Sycuan Indian reservation, Indigenous firefighters of Southern California:
Click to DOWNLOAD high-resolution California firefighters poster.
SAN DIEGO FIRE FIGHTING ACADEMY BLOG 2009 — Since 1995, Chief Murphy has held a prestigious Sycuan-BIA wildland fire and aviation academy nearly ever year for the past 15 years on the Sycuan Indian Reservation in San Diego County — 12 total fire academies as of 2010.
CHIEF MURPHY'S FIRE FIGHTERS ON THE JOB — DOWNLOAD HIGH-RESOLUTION POSTER (you will want to zoom in on this one), featuring a bit of firefighters' reality: "Spiked Out Nine Consecutive Days (West Basin Complex, 2008)."
Chief Murphy pictured talking to a classroom full of his firefighters at Kumeyaay Community College, May of 2007.
   
HANK MURPHY, Sycuan Kumeyaay elder
NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN BIOGRAPHY
PROFESSIONAL PICTURES BLOGS:
 SYCUAN FIRE DEPT 30th Anniversary Photos, OCT 2004
Wildland Academy Program: MULTIMEDIA
232nd Marine Corps Birthday Ball Pictures, NOV 2007
Staff & Crew WEB BLOGS: Meet Sycuan firefighters and staff
RED EAGLE BLOG: Young Professional Fireman
JUAN MENDEZ BLOG: Golden Eagles IHC Superintendent
GOLDEN EAGLES IHC HOME PAGE
SYCUAN FIRE DEPARTMENT SFD — Sycuan Chief Murphy photographed April 25, 2009, addressing the BIA-Sycuan Wildland Fire & Aviation class #12, aka the "Dirty Dozen," during the formal graduation ceremony at Sycuan Resort.
NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS USMC VETERAN of the Korean War, Hank Murphy is a former Commander of the local San Diego Scuttle Butt Detachment 866.
MARRIED 40+ YEARS — Mr. and Mrs. Murphy pictured dancing during the 238th Marine Corps Birthday Ball on November 9, 2013. Mrs. Murphy is a veteran of the United States Navy.
Shirley and Hank Murphy walk the catwalk at the San Diego Shearaton, February 2010, as part of the Women of Dedication's recognition of their successful fund-raising efforts. As a board member on the Grossmont Healthcare District and the Grossmont Hospital Foundation Board of Governors, Mrs. Murphy raised $350,000 for the hospital's da Vinci Robotic Surgery System.
Hank Murphy Henry R. Murphy is pictured above in 2007 seated between his wife, Shirley, and Rob, one of their three sons. Gloria Garcia is seated beside Mrs. Murphy.
Mr. Hank Murphy and his wife, Shirley, posed for a formal presidential picture with Madam President Cecelia Fire Thunder of the Oglala Lakota Indian Nation, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Kyle, South Dakota, and (name) during the Native American Ball at the 2009 Inauguration of President Obama and Vice President Biden in Washington D.C.
Chief Murphy with Drill Instructor Solis and Drill Instructor Castro pose for a 2006 academy boot camp picture.
Chief Hank Murphy, Sycuan Kumeyaay, inspects his troops during the 2006 Sycuan-BIA Wildland Academy Sycuan Fire Recruit Osuna is pictured far left of photo.
Hank Murphy, a US Marine Corps Korean War veteran, is pictured in a Sycuan historical tribal photo, 1992 Sycuan pow wow grand entry reservation picture.
Mr. Murphy is an active member of local VFW, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and participates in many official events.
BORN AND RAISED on the Sycuan Indian Reservation, Hank Murphy left the Sycuan reservation when he was 17 to join the U.S. Marines and serve our country in time of war.
REAL SAN DIEGO NATIVE
600 Generations in San Diego!
A "real" San Diego Native, Hank Murphy's maternal grandparents are from the federally-recognized Inaja and Sycuan Kumeyaay reservations in San Diego County, and his paternal grandparents are from the La Huerta Kumiai Indio ejido comunidad in Baja California Norte, Mexico.
Archaeology experts have scientifically proven that Mr. Murphy's indigenous ancestors have occupied the greater San Diego County and US-Mexico border region for some 12,000 years now — that's 7,500 years before the Great Pyramids of Giza were built!
To learn more about Kumeyaay Indian history in Southern California, please read the Webmaster's KUMEYAAY HISTORY ESSAY.
AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY — Sovereignty defender Sycuan Councilman Hank Murphy displays the sovereign flag of the Kumeyaay-Diegueño Nation, 2006.
13 FEDERALLY-RECOGNIZED KUMEYAAY BANDS:
Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians | Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation | Barona Band of Mission Indians | San Pasqual Band of Indians | Inaja-Cosmit Indian Reservation | Capitan Grande Indian Reservation | Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel | Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians | Manzanita Indian Reservation | La Posta Indian Reservation | Jamul Indian Village A Kumeyaay Nation | Mesa Grande Indian Reservation | Campo Band of the Kumeyaay Nation
Sycuan Kumeyaay Indian Hank Murphy is pictured in a rare historical Sycuan tribal photograph in California Native American Indian pow-wow regalia dancing on the Sycuan Indian Reservation during the 1991 Sycuan Powwow.
COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
Shirley and Hank Murphy sponsored Stephanie La Chappa, a 12-year-old young Kumeyaay girl from the Sycuan band, and led her naming and honoring ceremony during a large California Indian powwow and traditional Kumeyaay gathering in 1992.
Shirley and Hank Murphy have taken an active role in the Sycuan Powwows since Sycuan's first powwow in 1990.
Anna Sandoval (above in black), Sycuan Kumeyaay Indian, started the Sycuan powwow in 1990 and it has evolved into one of the largest Native American California pow wows in North America, offering some of the biggest cash prizes for Native American pow-wow dancers.
Anna's mother, Ada Prieto, Kumeyaay, is pictured in a blue dress along with famous celebrity Hollywood Indian actress Dawanna Murrell in traditional buckskin dress and a soon-to-be-identified famous male Native American movie star.
Mr. Murphy established the Sycuan Color Guard and Sycuan Honor Guard units for the Sycuan tribe. The volunteer Sycuan guard is comprised of tribal police officers, reservation security and fire department personnel who have completed previous military tours.
The Sycuan color guard tours the nation and performs in parades, Native ceremonies, sports events, and military-style funerals for fallen firefighters.
INDIGENOUS FIREFIGHTERS:
Chief Murphy takes a professional picture with his first fire academy — 1995 Sycuan Fire Academy class (detail with Juan Mendez, Zapoteca). Released as a Sycuan historical photo, please CLICK FOR HIGH RESOLUTION 10-INCH IMAGE.
SYCUAN FIRE & AVIATION ACADEMY GRADUATION — Chief Murphy poses with Indigenous Native American fire fighters SYFD Wildland Division Battalion Chief Wadell Kanseah (Mescalero-Apache), and a brand new academy FireFighter Regan Armstrong Jr. with his father, Reagan Armstrong Sr. (Associate Judge, White Mountain Apache tribal Court), and family members (Fort Apache-White Mountain Indian Reservation) — DOWNLOAD HI-REZ 10-INCH PICTURE.
FAMOUS CHIEFS — Famous fire chiefs lined up for a rare group photo — DOWNLOAD HI-REZ 10-INCH of the Big Chiefs. Pictured (l-r): Supt. Mendez GE IHC, Chief Fennessy SDFD, Chief Murphy SYFD, Chief Kanseah SYFD, Ron Recker BIA-NIFC, Chief Villalpando SYFD, Chief Nelson SYFD, Chief Butcher SMFD.
INDIAN GAMING HISTORY IN SAN DIEGO
Sycuan Councilman Hank Murphy (2nd from left), and Chairwoman Anna Sandoval (seated in center) are the key Sycuan tribal members who established the modern Sycuan Casino in the late 1980s, including Sycuan tribal council member GEORGIA TUCKER (far right). Georgia Tucker is seated beside her brother, Danny, at the far right end of the original Sycuan bingo hall pictured below.
The council's work and perseverance set in motion the foundation that would afford for Sycuan's unprecedented future growth and financial success in its many Sycuan tribal investments, including the U.S. Grant (landmark luxury hotel), Sycuan Ringside Promotions (boxers and boxing event promotions), the Sycuan Resort (country club: hotel, championship golf courses, professional tennis).
With the United States Congress passing the INDIAN GAMING REGULATORY ACT (IGRA) in 1988, and California voters overwhelmingly approving PROPOSITION 1A in 2000 — California Indians, as SOVEREIGN INDIAN GOVERNMENTS, at last have a shot at participating in the American Dream....
COMMUNITY SERVICE
The Murphys address a ballroom full of fire fighters and their spouses during the department's 2003 annual Holiday party.
 s a husband and wife team, the Murphys' genuine concern and generosity towards their fellow tribal members and non-tribal communities have been witnessed over decades of active, positive involvement to improve the lives of everyone around them by actively supporting their indigenous cultures and tribal communities.
Having been born and raised on the poorest Indian reservations in North America, Mr. and Mrs. Murphy have overcame harsh financial poverty and held true to their traditional values, earned college degrees, and have not been swayed by the Sycuan band's rapid financial growth over the past decade and new wealth.
The Murphys' lifetimes of selfless service to the community in turn have provided real opportunities for countless other Native and non-Native people and given them chances to learn, work hard and grow as individuals to help build better productive living communities and improve the quality of life for their families, the children and elders here in the turn of the 21st Century.
CULTURAL RENAISSANCE — As director of the D-Q University at Sycuan satellite facility, now Kumeyaay Community College, Mrs. Murphy was instrumental in bringing many young Indians into Sycuan's cultural programs and seeding the next generation of bird singers with qualified teachers and mentors.
At DQU, Shirley Murphy brought many talented creative people into her school programs as seen here in this historic 2002 DQU photo.
Mrs. Murphy poses for a picture with her son, Stephen, in 2002, while the mother and son were working together at the D-Q University Sycuan facility.
But the Murphys' commitment to Indian Education started many years before this check presentation photograph.
Mr. and Mrs. Murphy are respected traditional leaders and role models in their Southern California Indian community.
Together as a team, the Murphys established the Sycuan Fire Department, the Kumeyaay education department, and the Sycuan medical and dental clinics on the Sycuan Indian Reservation.
In 1982, Hank and Shirley Murphy founded a tribal healthcare clinic now operated by the Southern Indian Health Council, Inc.
Pictured above and below at the Sycuan Resort, formerly known as Singing Hills Country Club, Dehesa Valley, Mrs. Murphy opens a discussion during a Native American think tank sponsored by California gaming tribes of Southern Calif.
Shirley and Hank Murphy's forward thinking, active participation and unwavering support is directly responsible for providing a fertile environment to produce the massive original creative content on the KUMEYAAY.INFO site, which has in turn provided for the GEHOTSHOTS and SYCUANFIRE web sites' creative content and quality of historical record.
Shirley Murphy is a founding member of the Kumeyaay Nation Education Alliance (KNEA), a volunteer for Community Youth Ministries, and a member of the American Association of University Women (AAUA). She has served as a member of the Dehesa School District Board of Trustees and is a former board member of the Center for Social Advocacy.
 KUMEYAAY MOVIE STAR:
Hank Murphy actor and narrator co-starred with Danny Tucker singing vocals in a Native American PSA short movie "One Voice" produced by H. B. Barnum, Hollywood, California. Watch this Native American movie free on line in the KUMEYAAY.INFO movie theater.
 KUMEYAAY MOVIE ACTOR:
Chief Hank Murphy starred in a Sycuan video commercial about firefighting in San Diego County. (Sycuan commercial thumbnail)
Iipay Indian Ron Christman, Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel (in tan vest) speaks on behalf of Hank Murphy during a public Kumeyaay honoring ceremony in Balboa Park pow wow in 2002 . Kumeyaay elder Jane Dumas, Jamul Indian Village • a Kumeyaay Nation, was also honored during this famous California Indian cultural event in San Diego.
Mrs. Shirley Murphy is a traditional American Indian woman pictured here in 2004 wearing her tribal regalia on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION, Kyle, South Dakota — Mrs. Murphy joined hands with her Oglala Lakota female tribal members and formed a circle in support of newly elected Madam President Cecelia Fire Thunder during the historic presidential inauguration, December 11, 2004.
President Fire Thunder is the sister of Hank's wife, Shirley, and the aunt of Sycuan Firefighter Leland Red Eagle, a member of the elite Golden Eagles Hotshots wildland Native American fire crew.
Madam President Fire Thunder presented a beautiful buffalo Lakota Indian blanket to Chief Murphy during the 2008 Sycuan-BIA Wildland Fire Academy on the Sycuan Indian Reservation as Sycuan fire academy cadets look on and learn firsthand about Native American culture and tradition.
The Sycuan Fire Department is helping the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation — the poorest Indian reservation in the United States — to establish a modern reservation fire department.
HANK & SHIRLEY MURPHY COFOUNDED the KUMEYAAY.INFO cyber institution for The Indigenous Peoples of California tribal village web site which got over 30,000,000 hits in its first three years on the internet.
Mr. and Mrs. Murphy donated the webmaster's air transportation hotel time expenses to produce the KUMEYAAY.INFO Smithsonian museum documentary on the Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians national museum display on the Kumeyaay Nation in Washington D.C., the Nation's capital.
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April 14, 2010
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Murphy,
My ultimate THANK YOU for your unwavering support over the past 20 years.
It has meant the world to me, and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the Sycuan community under your inspiring leadership.
Together, you have made such a positive difference in so many people's lives that you touched, including mine.
All the work I've produced on the California Indian People is dedicated to you and your vision of helping those around you grow and realize their potential for being human.
With my greatest admiration and respect, very truly yours,
GARY G. BALLARD
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Blog text and all pictures by founding webmaster GARY G. BALLARD.
Blog Photos and Text courtesy of KUMEYAAY.INFO © 1989-present.
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The SYCUANFIRE.COM and GEHOTSHOTS.ORG websites were expired in 2010 — I am archiving Mr. Murphy's biography and a couple of his fire-fighting career programs here on KUMEYAAY.INFO to preserve historical record.
