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RALEIGH, N.C. -- In the past 12 years, I've covered about 100 young men who have
worn a Charlotte Hornets jersey.
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| Phills |
There have been the great players with even greater egos. There
have been the headaches who did nothing but complain and gripe about
such relatively insignificant things as playing time, shot attempts
and money. A lot were guys who came and went without much fanfare.
But a few -- a very few -- you would like to think you could call a
friend. Bobby Phills was one of those guys.
I never interacted with Phills other than at a game or practice. I had his home telephone number but never called him other than professionally. Sometimes you made small talk with a player after a practice or before a game.
Yet, somehow, I feel like I've lost a very close friend.
Perhaps it was because Phills always handled himself with class in the locker room. It was a refreshing change from the "me-first" mentality that has overrun professional sports.
When the Charlotte Hornets traded to get Eddie Jones last season, Jones supplanted Phills as the starting shooting guard. Phills made the adjustment to small forward, where he was often undersized and outmanned. Yet he played with passion, held his own, and never once complained about the pounding and beating he took from stronger and bigger players.
This year, Phills had to adjust again. When Hornets coach Paul
Silas wanted to move Anthony Mason to small forward for a big starting
lineup, Phills was the odd man out again. He was moved to the bench,
where Silas thought Phills' leadership would be beneficial in helping
to stabilize a bench loaded with young, energetic rookies who often
can play out of control.
Phills never saw the move as a demotion. He accepted it as what was best for the team. Believe me, not many players, including some in that same locker room, would have made that move without a major pout.
But that was the kind of guy Bobby Phills was.
He had to work hard to get where he was at in the NBA. He was not a high draft pick out of college who arrived on the scene with an entourage. He was a low draft pick who got cut, had to toil in the minor leagues, and finally got another shot at the NBA. Even then, he was never a star, but a blue-collar guy who played hard.
Phills didn't fit the dumb-jock stereotype, either. He graduated
from Southern University with a better-than 3.0 GPA and a degree in animal
science. His father, Bobby, a college professor, wanted his son and
namesake to become a veterinarian.
With the Hornets, he was a team leader, co-captain and their
players' association representative during last year's long and
acrimonious work stoppage.
But there was a whole lot more to Bobby Phills than his impact on the court with the Hornets.
For hours Wednesday, on Charlotte sports radio station WFNZ, people who had met Phills in the community called in to tell of their experiences. From the woman whose 5-year-old daughter received personal attention from Phills when she approached him at a shopping mall, to the man who bumped into Phills at a gas station and was treated like a long-lost friend, the stories all had a familiar theme:
Phills was about as unpretentious as they come.
You've probably heard, or will hear, the story of how Phills and Carolina Panthers center Frank Garcia rescued a man from a burning motorcycle accident last summer. He never made a big deal about it; that's the kind of guy he was.
He wasn't just a pro athlete. He was a great guy, who just happened to be a pretty good basketball player, too.
Bobby, I'll miss you.
Dennis Switzer covers sports for the Rock Hill, S.C., Herald. | |
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