| | BATON ROUGE, La. -- Bobby Phills, a guard for the Charlotte Hornets, will be remembered by those who watched him grown up as someone who was respected more for his character than his on-the-court abilities.
"He had that certain aura about himself," said Ulysses Jones,
who coached Phills while he was a senior at Southern Lab High
School. "He always respected others no matter who they were. He
never caused problems. He was hard working and diligent at
everything he did. He had that natural charisma."
Phills, 30, died Wednesday when his 1997 Porsche, traveling at a high rate of speed, collided with another car. He was killed instantly.
Phills graduated from Southern Lab High School in Baton Rouge 1987 and then attended Southern University, where his father was once the dean of the college of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences.
A family friend who answered Phills' parents' telephone at their Baton Rouge home declined comment.
Phills was recruited out of high school as a center but became a shooting guard through his hard work, said Southern coach Tommy
Green, who was an assistant coach when Phills played there.
"He was a role model for all ages and a lot of things that
people don't know about him was that basketball was not his only
avenue," Green said.
Phills graduated from Southern in 1991 with a better-than 3.0 grade-point average in animal science and was accepted into Tulane Medical
School in New Orleans, Green said.
Phills had wanted to be a veterinarian, but opted instead to
play basketball.
He joined the Hornets in 1997 after six years with Cleveland and was in the third year of a seven-year, $33 million contract. Phills
averaged a career 10.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists a game
at the end of last season. He was fourth on the team in scoring
this season.
Active in the community, Phills volunteered for children's
charities and related organizations. In 1998, he was one of four
finalists for the NBA's Sportsmanship Award and started the "Bobby
Phills Educational Foundation."
"This young man represented the very best of Southern
University. He was not only a world class athlete, but also a world
class humanitarian. He is the model of what we attempt to do with
all of our students," Southern Chancellor Edward R. Jackson said
in a statement.
Phills often returned to Baton Rouge to host basketball clinics
and golf tournaments for charity. Jones said Phills also has made
generous donations to his former high school.
"He could have been one of the foremost black leaders in the
country," said Ben Jobe, Phills' former coach at Southern. "He
had the brain power, he had the great family background. He had
everything."
Jones said Southern Lab is creating a hall of fame this year and school officials had considered inducting Phills.
However, the hall of fame program was to be held during the NBA season and Phills would not be able to attend. School officials
scratched his name, Jones said.
"Now, we might reconsider," Jones said.
Jones and his wife, Kendall, had two children. Kendall Phills
was a sophomore at Southern Lab when Phills was a senior, Jones
said.
"She fell for the same charisma that everyone else admired him for," Jones said. "There were a lot of girls who wanted to be in
her place." | |
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