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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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