The Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation announced Tuesday it has renamed its annual Thanksgiving Day Fun Run for Kids in honor of the late Tom Murphy, who died in August when his car was struck by a boulder in Colorado.

The inaugural Tom Murphy Fun Run for Kids will begin at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving at Satchel Paige Park Field at the southeast corner of the Sprint campus in Overland Park.

Murphy, who was Sprint’s vice-president of corporate branding, also was a member of the Sports Commission’s executive committee and “made a significant contribution in helping the plans for a new downtown arena in 2001,” said Kevin Gray, president of the commission.

“He was also instrumental in our efforts to both retain the National Association of Basketball Coaches and develop the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and College Basketball Experience.”

In conjunction with the Fun Run, the Sports Commission is working to raise money for the tuition scholarship fund in Murphy’s name, which will be awarded each year to help further the education of a student at Rockhurst High School. The Sports Commission will contribute $1,000 from the event to the Thomas E. Murphy III Scholarship Fund.

“The scholarship will be awarded to individuals that exemplify Tom's best qualities and assist them in their pursuit of higher education,” Gray said.