It's hard to talk about the Boston music scene without mentioning the band Dropkick Murphys. But it’s a little-known fact there was a real man named Dropkick Murphy — Dr. John Dropkick Murphy, to be precise.
And he was an unsung hero in New England.
"About ten years ago, when I moved out to the Metro West suburbs, I overheard people talking about Dropkick Murphy's farm," explained Boston Globe journalist and reporter Emily Sweeney, whose new book is biography titled "Dropkick Murphy A Legendary Life."
Sweeney had heard bits and pieces of the story. One day, she went to a restaurant in Acton, Massachusetts, ask started asking people more. They told her Dropkick Murphy was a professional wrestler, and he had a farm down the street where people would go to get sober.
"From that point on, I started doing research and really wanted to find out what he was about," she said.
Murphy was born in Malden in 1912. He toured the country as a successful professional wrestler, and he was known for his signature move: the dropkick. Murphy would launch himself in the air, hitting opponents with both boots and, quite often, then land right back on his feet in the ring. And he did it multiple times during a match.
"And then he put himself through medical school," Sweeney explained. "So imagine wrestling at night ... you're getting thrown around and then, you know, going to school the next morning. And he completed all four years of medical school and graduated."
In addition to wrestling and working as a doctor of osteopathy, Murphy also founded Bellow's Farm in Action, Massachusetts. The farm was widely known in the region for helping people recover from substance use disorders. But just like Murphy himself, that farm was multifaceted.
"There'd be lots of people there in various states of drying out from their addictions, whether it be alcohol or drugs," Sweeney said. "And then you also had a state-of-the-art gymnasium with a boxing ring that was also used for wrestling. And you had like prize fighters like Tommy Collins, Tony DeMarco, coming out and training them before some of their big fights at Boston Garden."
Murphy died in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1977.
