Murphy High School (North Carolina)

Murphy High School (MHS) is a public high school in Murphy, North Carolina. It serves grades 9–12 and is one of only three high schools in the Cherokee County Schools system. The MHS campus is sandwiched between U.S. Route 19 and the Valley River. The high school shares its campus with Murphy Middle School and the Cherokee County Schools Bus Garage. As of 2007 the school had a full-time teaching staff of 42 teachers giving an average of 12 students per teacher. It has a GreatSchools rating of 5/10 and an average community rating of 4/5 stars. In the 2023-24 school year, 431 students were enrolled. The school has a capacity of 746 students.

History
The original Murphy High School building was constructed in 1925. The current campus opened in 1956 on 219 acres as Murphy Senior High School. Construction cost $259,143.

The original mascot for Murphy High School was the Boomers. The Boomer was a red squirrel. The change from the Murphy Boomers to the Murphy Bulldogs happened on October 23, 1938.

An EF2 tornado damaged Murphy High School and Murphy Middle School during the tornado outbreak of March 2–3, 2012. The schools were temporarily forced to close as a result.

In May 2020, the Cherokee County Board of Education voted to consolidate Andrews, Murphy, and Hiwassee Dam High Schools. In September 2022, a grant of $50 million was given to the school system for this purpose, but in January 2023 new members of the Cherokee County Board of Education voted to return the money instead.

“Practically all of Murphy High School is in need of dramatic repairs and improvements or a complete replacement altogether,” the Cherokee Scout newspaper wrote in 2023.

Murphy High was voted as the best school in Cherokee County in the Scout's 2023 Readers' Choice awards.

Athletics
Murphy's teams are known as the Bulldogs. The football team plays at Bob Hendrix Memorial Stadium. Murphy competes in the Smoky Mountain Conference (SMC) and its varsity sports are:
 * Baseball
 * Basketball
 * Cheerleading
 * Cross Country
 * Boys state champs - 1994
 * Girls state champs - 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000
 * Football
 * State champs - 1974, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2020
 * Golf
 * Track
 * Girls state champs - 1990, 1995, 2018, 2019
 * Soccer
 * Softball
 * Swimming
 * Volleyball
 * Wrestling

Alumni

 * Carl Pickens (1988), former NFL wide receiver and 2x Pro Bowl selection
 * Hedy West (1955), folksinger and songwriter

Faculty

 * Dave Bristol (former assistant football coach), he went on to manage the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves, and San Francisco Giants