Giffin & Crane Profile: Estimator Matthew Morphy
Cate Graduate Combines Competitive Spirit and Knack for Spreadsheets
Born and raised in Pasadena, Matthew Morphy followed his father and brothers’ academic footsteps to the Carpinteria foothills, boarding at Cate School, a private college preparatory founded in 1910. Athletic and 6’3″ at the time, Morphy joined the volleyball team. “We weren’t very good,” he remembers, lamenting how the team “only won one match in three years.” A year after graduation, however, his competitive slump flipped upside down.
In 1985, as a 6’6″ freshman at Pepperdine University, Morphy walked onto the volleyball team on the last day of tryouts. By the end of his first collegiate season, Morphy’s personal record had gone from a single victory in three years to an NCAA national championship. Pepperdine defended that title in 1986.
Off the court, Morphy studied marketing and advertising. His first job right out of college was swinging a hammer for a framer in Pasadena. “I’ve always had a big interest in building things,” he says. “And I’ve always been a woodworker and do-it-yourselfer.” Soon enough, though, he found work in his field. After a handful of years in advertising, he started his own business in desktop publishing and took it to Ketchum, Idaho, where he lived for several years.
