by Ron Johnston
Bernie “Murph” Voorheis of Spencerport was often a career day guest speaker in one of the Churchville-Chili Senior High classrooms back in the mid-1960s.
The 1938 Churchville graduate was then employed at Eastman Kodak as Director of Employee Recreational Activities. He worked at Kodak for 35 years until his retirement in 1983. But Bernie’s work resume also included a brief stint as a player in the National Basketball League (later NBA), and that experience was what he shared with the C-C students.
No C-C Saint, except for Bernie, has ever competed at the NBA level.
Career day speakers at the school also featured representatives and professionals from numerous occupational fields and several branches of the U.S. military. All were fascinating people. But what Bernie talked about was truly eye-opening.
During the war years, Bernie played semi-pro hoops with the Rochester Atlas Wreckers. At 5-foot-10, he was an excellent ballhandler with exceptional quickness and court awareness. Scouted and signed by the Rochester Royals of the NBL, he was a member of the 1945-46 championship team.
Some of Bernie’s basketball teammates were Otto Graham, a future NFL star quarterback for the Cleveland Browns; Chuck Connors, star of the television show “The Rifleman”; Red Holzman, a future NBA head coach of the New York Knicks; and Del Rice, an MLB (Major League Baseball) catcher.
Bernie passed away in 2010 at age 87. He and his wife Martha had been married for 49 years. In 2018, he was inducted into the Churchville-Chili Athletic Hall of Fame.
Two of Bernie’s three sons – Mike and Brian – were teammates on the 1960 championship Little League baseball Braves team, which he helped coach in Churchville.
When Bernie spoke to the squad, everyone listened.
Provided photos
Note: Ron Johnston, a 1966 Churchville-Chili graduate, is the author of One-Game Wonder.
