“Overcoming Challenges: Inspirational Journeys of Living Life in the Face of Adversities”Sn

At 37 years old, Rohan Murphy has made a life out of sharing his words. And it’s not hard to understand why. Armed with a confidence and charisma most could only ever hope to possess, he takes to stages across the country, easily drawing in audiences in with his motivational messages and lessons in overcoming adversity. But more than just charm and an overwhelming stage presence, there is one more thing his audiences are sure to notice when he sits in front of them: Murphy does not have legs.

Despite this, Murphy rarely covers his upper thigh stumps with pants. Instead, he wants the audience to see him for who he really is: a self-assured former Division One collegiate wrestler, former Paralympic bodybuilder, and a comfortable, enlivening motivational speaker, whose message inspires adults and children nationwide.

Murphy, whose legs were amputated when he was 4 years old, is proud to show kids that even if you don’t look or feel like others around you, that is not an excuse: You should still try your hardest in achieving your dreams.

That’s a lesson he learned growing up on Long Island where he discovered a love for sports, competing for his high school wrestling team before continuing his wrestling career at Penn State. Later, he’d go on to compete in the Paralympics as a power lifter, traveling the world with Team USA.

“Wrestling was my purpose in life,” Murphy says. “My purpose became my passion, and through that passion, I built pride in myself. I tell people there are four P’s in my life: purpose, passion, pride, and perspective.”

In addition to inspiring audiences with his four P’s, Murphy shares several important lessons in overcoming adversity.

Until high school, Murphy always wore pants to cover his prosthetic legs, whether he was walking or sitting in his wheelchair. When curious classmates realized Murphy didn’t have legs and would ask what happened to him, he would lash out, imploring classmates to leave him alone.

“It was tough to understand and accept, because I wanted to be like everyone else who had legs,” Murphy says.

It was especially difficult because of his love for sports, and desire to participate. “I always had a vision of myself being able to play and being just as good—if not better—than most of the kids,” Murphy says. But without legs, his biggest fear was people staring at him or watching him too closely.

In eighth grade, he met a teacher who would change his outlook—and his life. Murphy immediately bonded with his adaptive physical education teacher, Ron Croteau, who also coached the soccer and wrestling teams.

One afternoon, Croteau lifted Murphy to the pull-up bar in the weight room and encouraged him to try a few reps. Croteau told Murphy that the school record was 20 pull-ups in a minute. After removing his prosthetic legs, Murphy beat the record on his first try.

A few weeks later, with Croteau’s encouragement, Murphy tried wrestling without his prosthetics. “It felt so great, to actually be able to try and play a sport rather than watch,” Murphy says. Murphy promised Croteau that he would try out for the ninth-grade squad the following year.

When he went home that night and told his parents, Murphy’s mother worried that he’d be injured. Murphy responded by sharing something his fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Acorn, had told him—a message he still imparts in his speaking career today: “You have to outline your life in pencil not pen—be willing to take a risk, to try new things, and don’t be afraid to fail.”

On the first day of tryouts for the ninth grade team, Murphy was anything but comfortable. He recalls being terrified to remove his prosthetics and face the judgment of his peers. “But every wrestler came up, shook my hand, introduced themselves and said they thought it was amazing I was going to wrestle,” Murphy says. “That was one of the changing points of my life.”

His first season, Murphy wrestled for the JV squad; he finished with two wins and 13 losses.

“He was a great winner and a great loser,” Croteau says. “The first match I watched him, he lost, and I felt badly for him. But he took it all right.”

Murphy made the varsity squad in 10^th grade. In his first match, Murphy didn’t just beat his opponent—he pinned him for the win. “That gave me all the confidence in the world,” Murphy, who finished the season with a 25-6 record, says.

In the county finals his senior year, Murphy lost. He says that loss was important—it taught him that just because he had a disability, it didn’t mean he deserved “special” treatment.

“I thought I deserved the title, especially with being disabled,” Murphy says. “But I realized that in life, you really only deserve what you earn.”

Penn State University was Murphy’s dream school, with one of the best wrestling programs in the country and excellent academics. After being accepted academically, the summer before his junior year, Murphy emailed then-head wrestling coach Troy Sunderland, telling him he’d like to be a part of the team. Sunderland assumed that Murphy meant as a manager; Murphy’s response was simple and direct: “No, I want to be on the team.”

On the first day of practice, Murphy was again terrified. “I felt like everyone was looking at me like, ‘What is going on—is this kid going to wrestle without legs?’” Murphy remembers. But immediately, like high school, they accepted him and welcomed him.

The first official practice was a preseason conditioning workout at a local ski slope, where the wrestlers had to run up a steep hill. Murphy said to himself, ‘I have to do this.’ He started to crawl up the mountain. Halfway up, the coaches yelled to Murphy that he could come back down. But, he tells his audiences, he refused to quit. Instead, he pushed himself as hard as he could. “It was tough, obviously, but I remember getting halfway there and the coaches were on the bottom of the hill yelling at me to come back down,” Murphy says. “But I continued to go—and finally, I made it to the top!”

At the start of his junior year at Penn State, thanks to a consistent weight-lifting schedule, Murphy weighed close to 120 pounds. The lightest collegiate wrestling weight class was 125 pounds, though Murphy says competitors in that division often weighed close to 140 pounds. Still, Murphy competed in the 125-pound division; in his first season, he won five matches and lost 15.

“A lot of people will look at that record and say it isn’t very good,” says Murphy, adding that he views it as a mark of his success. “I went from being a kid who was so embarrassed about being disabled that I was resigned to the idea of working the drive-thru at McDonalds to a man who graduated from Penn State.”

Volunteering with Penn State’s summer wrestling camp, Murphy spoke to the young wrestlers, talking about what he had learned: “Just because you’re dealt a bad hand in life, it doesn’t mean you have to fold.” After the presentation, one of the parents asked Murphy if he would speak to students at a high school in Pennsylvania. Soon, Murphy was speaking to groups throughout the country.

“Through wrestling, for the first time in my life, I wasn’t ashamed about being disabled and not having legs,” Murphy tells his audiences, before sharing the other ways he’s used his situation to propel him forward through life.

And his accomplishments have been many. In addition to an accomplished speaking career, Murphy has continued to compete athletically post-college, moving from wrestling to power lifting. Murphy was on the USA Paralympic team and competed for Team USA in Rio and Seoul.

Today, Murphy’s goal is to speak to students in every state (he’s up to 43), and his powerful message resonates.

After a recent event, one of the attendees wrote: “You inspired me to be myself and not care about what anyone else thinks about me … Thank you for being my new role model that I will look up to.”