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Thursday, January 11, 2001
Phills lives on in memory, scholarship



Bobby Phills
Phills

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For Kendall Phills, the anniversary of her husband's death is bittersweet. While she's reminded of her loss, she's also able to celebrate his memory.

"This is a difficult time for me," she said Thursday night, the eve of the one-year anniversary of husband Bobby Phills' death.

"I'm reminded he's not here anymore, but I'm also able to focus all the wonderful times we had and on his wonderful life."

Phills was killed last Jan. 12 in a car accident when he left the Charlotte Hornets' morning shootaround. Phills was speeding from the Charlotte Coliseum when he lost control of his Porsche and slid into oncoming traffic. He was killed instantly.

On Thursday, Kendall Phills was back at the Coliseum to mark the anniversary before the Hornets played the Portland Trail Blazers.

She stood smiling at midcourt with her children, Trey, 4, and Kerstie, 2, during a moment of silence for the former Charlotte captain, then accepted a $10,000 check from the organization for the Bobby Phills Scholarship Fund.

She'll mark the actual anniversary on Friday night with a citywide memorial at Charlotte's Calvary Church. Carolina Panther Reggie White, an ordained minister, is one of the featured speakers.

The Hornets won't be able to attend the memorial -- they'll be tipping off against the Bulls in Chicago and the same time it starts -- and coach Paul Silas said that was a good thing.

"Certainly we will always remember the date and the man, but not the hurt," Silas said. "To be at the memorial would force us to relive the accident and the day all over again."

Hornets guard David Wesley, who police said was racing Phills at the time of the accident, has tried to be accommodating this week to reporters' questions about the anniversary. But he made Wednesday the final day he would talk about the situation.

"After a year, I don't have anything new to say," he said earlier this week. "I wish I could just be left alone to deal with it the way I've been dealing with it all along. It's my thing."

Kendall Phills, who said she and Wesley will be "friends 'till the end," said it's been a difficult year for Wesley.

"I don't think a day goes by that he and I don't think about the accident," she said. "He was the last one to see Bobby that day and he told me he can still see him sometimes.

"They were partners in crime -- I called them Bip and Bop -- and it's been hard for him."

It's also been hard for her. She started dating Phills when she was 14 and they married 10 years later. Now 29, she is without him for the first time in her adult life.

"Bobby had an aura about himself that was different from any other guy I ever met," she said. "That magnetic smile just drew me in. I cherish every moment we had."

Kendall Phills has remained active in both the community and the Hornets' organization since Phills' death. She still lives in Charlotte and attends Hornets' home games and team functions.

And she's still a member of Behind the Bench, the NBA wives' association, and will receive the association's Heart of Courage Award at the NBA All-Star game next month for her work in helping other widows cope with their grief.

But her biggest task has been running the scholarship fund, which has raised over $200,000 -- mostly from donations from NBA players -- since she started it earlier this year.

The fund provides full scholarships for five students at a time to Southern University, her and Bobby's alma mater, and for five other students to go to predominantly black colleges aligned with the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.

"The fund has allowed me to turn a negative situation into a positive situation, and I'm able to smile about it," she said.
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