Mock trial team fought for injured leader

There's dedication. There's commitment. And then there's Logan Murphy.

Murphy was the heart and soul of his winning William Floyd High School mock trial court team.

Dedication? Murphy walked out of Stony Brook University Hospital and into his mom's car for an hours-long drive to see the team compete at state finals in Albany last month.

Commitment? Before the first round of the two-day competition, Murphy, a senior, gave the team his patented pep talk. Win it for the team, he said, win it for Coach William Hennessy, win it for the school. "Win it for me," Murphy said.

Murphy, 17, and one of two seniors on a team comprised mostly of sophomores, was to be its top lawyer arguing a case in the highly competitive mock trial tournament.

But on March 18, he was driving when he hit a pole two weeks after getting his driver's license. He had serious injuries, including a brain injury. Murphy was alive, but would spend three weeks in a medically induced coma.

His team -- the 13 members boast that they have some of Charlie Sheen's "Tiger Blood" in their veins -- remembers well the day they learned about the accident. It was a Saturday, March 19, three days before county semifinals, and they were at the high school, getting ready for practice. In walked Alex, Logan Murphy's brother, who was helping the team prep.

He broke the news about the Friday night accident; the team broke into tears and went home for the weekend. But on Monday, March 21, the members decided to stay in the competition.

"If we drop out," Hennessy remembers one team member saying, "who's going to explain it to Logan?"

Two days later, the students defeated a formidable team from Central Islip. William Floyd parents and supporters helped fill a courtroom at the Cohalan county court building in Central Islip.

On March 28 -- Murphy was still in a coma -- the team bested a tough Bay Shore High School team in the ceremonial courtroom at the federal courthouse in Central Islip.

And on April 13, they defeated W. Tresper Clarke High School, of Westbury, for the Long Island championship.

They recorded the competition -- and added their own personal messages -- for the designated team MVP. It was Murphy, who, by then had progressed from squeezing visitors' hands to talking.

Senior Catie Ryan, 18, remembers getting Murphy to laugh. She was rewarded with his first sentence: "The food here," Murphy said . . . . Well, we'll just leave out the rest of the description in this family newspaper.

"The team was always there, visiting, sending us texts, saying they were winning this and winning that," Murphy's mother, Linda Bowerman, said. "They played a huge part in Logan's recovery."

Murphy did what he could to help things along, too. At one point, doctors had removed and safely stored a portion of his skull. They restored it after Murphy came out of the coma. He also had to endure physical and speech therapy and continues to return to Stony Brook for follow-up treatment. In September, he also plans to be a student there, where he's changed his mind about what he'll study -- from law to medicine.

"I just really wanted to get better," said Murphy, who by the end of April was helping the team with strategy and reading over competition materials. As the day of state finals neared, Murphy began to remove some of the stitches in his head. He wanted, that badly, to be with the team in Albany.

On May 21, Murphy talked his mom into driving him to state finals. "It was a hard call for me, but Logan wanted it, he really wanted it and we felt he was ready for it," she said.

"I knew they needed me to be there, so I was," said Murphy, whose scars appear to be the only sign that he had a recent accident. "I think this year turned out the way it should have been."

And so it was that Murphy -- wearing his trademark lucky socks -- was able to give his standard pretrial pep talk. The team fought hard and took fourth in a tight competition.

"They decided early on during this extremely tough year to do it for Logan." Hennessey said. "I felt from the beginning that he would be with us in Albany."

With all the Tiger Blood in their veins, it was meant to be.