ATLANTA — Every family has its treasured memories. For the Murphy family, they include photos that made the newspapers.
“This is your grandfather, Eddie Murphy, who ran in the Peachtree Road Race,” family member Haley Jackson said.
Eddie Murphy is 18-year-old Zayden Aspey’s grandfather.
“I don’t know much about my grandfather. I never met him. But I like to see the connection here,” Aspey said.
Eddie Murphy was a longtime Fulton County deputy sheriff who loved to run and bring his tiny children along for the ride in a wagon.
There’s a photo from 1977 in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and another a few years later in the Atlanta Daily World.
Murphy’s daughter Aubri — who is Zayden’s mom — was in that one, though she was a little too young to remember.
“I was 2 years old when that race happened. I only have pictures,” Aubri Murphy said.
Her parents tragically died a few years later. They were struck by a speeding car.
“He was well-loved by the community. After your grandfather Eddie, and your grandmother Ellen Dyanne passed away, they named a baseball field for him,” Aubri Murphy said.
And now, nearly 50 years after his mom and uncle were pulled across a finish line in a wagon, Zayden is honoring his grandfather in this year’s Peachtree Road Race.
He’s a cross country champ and will run the same course his grandfather once did.
“What about ‘you’ pulling a wagon?” Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen asked.
“I thought about doing it! My two cousins are 10 and 8. A little older than my mom and uncle!” Zayden said.
No wagons are allowed in modern-day dashes like the Peachtree Road Race.
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