Super Flagger
Predictable, Accountable, Consistent
Philip Murrah
By Siri Stevens

When Philip Murrah drops the flag that’s it!  “I’m like the judge at the courthouse that drops the hammer,” said the one time cabinet maker from Duncan, Okla. “That’s the way it is. “The respect that I’ve gotten over the years, they didn’t give to me; I’ve had to earn it.” It’s all about being fair and consistent. That’s my whole deal in life. You can’t take away from one to give to another. There’s got to be one thing at the very end; Common Sense. The rules that I enforce are the rules of the association that I’m working for that particular weekend.”

Philip came from a family of hard workers. His grandfather George Murrah and Uncle Alford P Murrah were orphans from Alabama. They jumped on a train not knowing where it was going and got flushed off the train in Oklahoma City. His grandfather went to work in an oil field. Philip’s Great Uncle Alford went on to be the youngest Supreme Court judge ever. “That’s where the name “Murrah Federal Building” came from in Oklahoma City,” explained Philip.

Philip’s dad, Charlie, made a living for his family by working with ‘running horses’. “He rode running horses for the biggest name at that time, in the Quarter Horse business. Names like Walter Merrick, Bud Warren and AB Green”.  He also worked for the AQHA, and as a state livestock inspector for the state of Oklahoma. “I miss the running horse industry. That was my deal,” Explained Philip. “I grew up in Lawton, and Lexington, Oklahoma. My stepfather Paul Swagerty was a horseman”. Paul Swagerty stood two horses – Old Tom Cat & Rickey Taylor, which were considered the Great horses of that time. “I was raised around horses and ‘horse people’ my entire life.” Philip was raised from the old school where integrity was the way of life. “They didn’t put up with any nonsense – they taught it to me and I taught it to my kids.  “Credibility is all you’ve got in this world.”

Alford bought my father his first horse. They didn’t have a pickup or a horse trailer, so they took the back seat out of the car and put the horse in the car. They took him home that way.”

In the 1930’s, as a child, my father lived with his family in a Phillip 66 tool shed, that was on the Canadian River where presently the I-35 and I-40 intersect, in Oklahoma City. “You always knew when the water was too high; the furniture would be floating”, remarked Philip’s Dad. Philip, like his father before him, has always had a love of horses. Philip lost his father from a heart attack in July, 2007.

Through Johnny Woods, Philip was taught the cabinet making trade. “If I had to go to work tomorrow, there will always be a demand for one of those.” He started team roping in 1974 out of jealousy of his cousin. “My dad didn’t want me to have anything to do with roping. My cousin roped and my dad talked so great about him, I started roping.”

Roping didn’t come easy for him. “I had no natural talent and had to work hard at it.” He fit roping around his school and his cabinet making. “I never did rope for a living. I always tried to keep it in its perspective. I knew I couldn’t feed my family roping.”

When Philip started team roping, he caught on pretty quick to the do’s & don’t of the sport. It was later, in Jr. High School that he started flagging. “I flagged for Jeff Smith in Kansas, and Keith Strickland from Oklahoma,” he said. “Denny Gentry saw me at the Lazy E in Oklahoma in 1991 and that’s when I went to work for the United States Team Roping Championship (USTRC). I have been with them ever since.” Today, Kirk Bray is president & CEO of the USTRC and a great guy to work for.

His official title is ‘Quality Control’ for the USTRC. “I’m here (USTRC Winter Championships held in Denver, Colo., in Feb, 2008) looking at classification,” he explained, recording his recommendations for the USTRC. “I can’t raise or lower a number; I just gather information for USTRC for there classification system”. There are four others that collect the same kind of data for the USTRC. The last roping Philip entered was in July of 2000. Philip replied; “I don’t rope at any of the ones I work at.”

Philip believes that he works for the cowboys and ropers. “All we’ve got to sell is fairness and consistency”. He has seen lots of growth and changes in the USTRC, and the team roping industry. “What makes this deal so great (about classification) is there is a place for everybody.  Some ropers are destined to be #9 or #10 ropers, some aren’t.”

Along with quality control, Philip still flags ten or so events a year and writes a monthly column. “Ask The Flagger”, composed by Bob Phillips, is printed in 10 different Team Roping publications across the nation.

Philip has flagged (with PRCA Flagger Harry Rose) the Bob Feist Invitational every year since 1995 and the Reno Invitational since they started, the Mike Cervi roping, and the USTRC finals from 1991 to 2003, the Donnie Waters Team Roping Invitational (07), also the Mega Match, and the Match of Champions. At one time or another Philip has flagged almost every major USTRC roping.

A lot of ropers think Philip is too tough. “The smile goes away and I hold the reins really tight,” said the 45-year-old of his decisions in the roping arena. “I don’t want anything to get out of hand.  Out of the arena I like to visit and talk, but when they hire me to do a job, they hire me to take care of the situation or the problem.”

Between gathering information on ropers in the USTRC and flagging, Philip travels 40 to 45 weeks a year, mostly by plane. “I’d rather fly than drive across the street any day. You’re safer in a plane then in a car… I wish Southwest Airlines flew everywhere.” He travels from the East to West, and North to South of the continental United States, and all the way to Hawaii.

The extensive time away from home, has created a life style different from other couples. But he and his wife Tammy have made it work for them. They have been married since 1997. Tammy works for the County Assessor’s office, but also rides and trains barrel horses. What little time we have together and our Christian attitudes are what we consider the ‘binding parts’ of our relationship.

 “My kids are all grown”. My oldest, Mistie 24, Jimmi 23, Philip 21, Greta, 19, and our grandson Connor is one. The biggest thing Philip misses is roping. He misses the competition and believes if he ever gets back to it, he can pick up where he left off as a #7 roper.
For now, Philip enjoys what he does. “I can’t say enough about the people I’ve met, the friendships I’ve made and the country I’ve seen, in this great country of the United States of America”. He is proud to be a Christian, a son, a husband, and a father. He has spent his whole life in the horse industry, which his name reflects - “Lover of Horses”.

He is referred to by some of the younger ropers as Uncle Philip.
“I like to look at great horses and I get to do that all the time”: Philip Murrah