Bobby Phills, NBA Charlotte Hornets Guard, 30

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://cnnsi.com/basketball/nba/news/2000/01/12/phils_death_ap/index.html

Hornets' Phills killed in traffic accident

Posted: Wednesday January 12, 2000 07:09 PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Charlotte Hornets guard Bobby Phills was speeding in
his Porsche after practice Wednesday when he lost control, crashed into a
car and died instantly.

Stunned and tearful teammates and Hornets officials gathered at the accident
scene less than a mile from the Charlotte Coliseum, where minutes earlier
Phills and the other players had been practicing for Wednesday night's game
with the Chicago Bulls. The game was postponed.

Phills, 30, who began his NBA career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, was
traveling at a "very high rate of speed" when he collided with a car headed
toward the coliseum, police spokesman Keith Bridges said. A minivan
rear-ended the other car. Two people in those vehicles were hospitalized.

Witnesses said teammate David Wesley, the Hornets' starting point guard,
also may have been driving too fast in his own Porsche, according to police.
Wesley's car wasn't involved in the accident, and he was questioned at the
scene.

Bridges said it will be several days before investigators reconstruct what
happened.

Phills lost control on a hilly curve where the posted speed was 45 miles per
hour, said Capt. L.E. Blydenburgh, the crash investigator. "The skid marks
indicate he was not going in a straight line," he said.

Phills' car, with the vanity plate "SLAMN," left skid marks several hundred
feet long and came to rest in one of the opposite lanes, Bridges said.
Firefighters had to cut his body from the wreckage.

Listed in stable condition at Presbyterian Hospital were Robert Woolard Jr.,
31, of Cornelius, the driver of the other car; and Yao Agbegbon, 33, of
Charlotte, who was driving a minivan taxi, Bridges said.

"This is the ultimate tragedy, and our immediate thoughts and prayers are
with his wife, Kendall, children and family," Hornets owner George Shinn
said in a statement. "Not only was Bobby a tremendous person, but a great
husband, father and role model that everyone respected and admired. He was
someone that you would want your children to be like."

Phills, a 6-foot-5 defensive stopper and a team leader, started often at
shooting guard or small forward for the Hornets and sometimes played
reserve.

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.

Cavaliers president Wayne Embry gave Phills his start in the NBA by signing
the guard to a 10-day contract.

"Bobby Phills was all that you would want in a human being," Embry said. "He
had extreme high character. A family man. I can't tell you what he meant to
the Cavs. If there's a person you would want to your children to be, a role
model, it's Bobby Phills."

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."

"He touched all of our lives," said Bob Bass, the Hornets' executive vice
president of basketball operations.

NBA commissioner David Stern said Phills was "a caring member of the
community."

"Bobby Phills represented the very best of the NBA," he said.

Phills earned a bachelor's degree in animal science from Southern
University. Ben Jobe, Phills' former coach at Southern, said Wednesday he
tried to steer Phills away from the NBA.

"He could have been one of the foremost black leaders in the country," Jobe
said. "He had the brain power; he had the great family background. He had
everything. For years, I tried to get him to go on to med school like he
talked about when he was a kid."

Clay Moser, an assistant coach when Phills played for the CBA's Sioux Falls
Skyforce, said Phills had wanted to be a veterinarian.

"He was a very in-depth person and just a treasure to be around," he said.

Phills' death was another in a series of shocks to hit North Carolina sports
in recent months.

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Steve Chiasson died in May when his pickup
truck crashed outside Raleigh. Police said he was driving drunk.

Also in May, crash debris killed three spectators attending the Indy Racing
League's VisionAire 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

Former Carolina Panthers receiver Rae Carruth was charged with killing his
girlfriend in November and could be sentenced to die if convicted of murder
and conspiracy charges.

Shinn was sued by a woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her. A Columbia,
S.C., jury found in his favor in December.

In October, Hornets guard Eldridge Recasner suffered a broken shoulder and a
collapsed lung and teammate Derrick Coleman was charged with drunken driving
in a traffic accident.

According to the NBA, there have been three other active players who were
killed in accidents: Drazen Petrovic (1993) and Terry Furlow (1980) in car
crashes and Nick Vanos (1987) in an air crash.

Phills is survived by his wife, Kendall, and two children -- Bobby Ray III,
3, and Kerstie, 1.


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