Mike Phillips, left, with former UK teammates James Lee and Jack Givens at a KSR remote with Matt Jones celebrating the 1978 team. (Twitter Photo)
When Jay Shidler played basketball at Kentucky, one of his best friends was teammate Mike Phillips.
“We were together a lot. He was my ride everywhere,” said Shidler. “Mike was a little bit of a free spirit like myself. We marched to the beat of our own drum and at times we both clashed with Coach (Joe B. Hall).”
“We probably did keep Coach up late at night wondering what he should do with us. But I have no regrets and Mike was a great, great friend.”
Phillips helped Kentucky win the national title in 1978 and reach the Elite Eight in 1977. He was also a huge factor in Kentucky’s 1976 NIT championship. He was a three-time all-SEC selection and finished his career 25th on UK’s all-time scoring list with 1,367 points (11.4 per game) and also had 755 rebounds (6.3 per game)
Phillips passed away in 2015 after falling down a flight of steps at his home in Madisonville.
Shidler recently told one of his favorite stories about Phillips and how he outsmarted Hall’s discipline.
Assistant coach Dick Parsons got Phillips, Shidler and Tim Stephens, Shidler’s roommate, up early one Saturday morning — the normal procedure when players were in trouble with Hall.
“If you were going to be disciplined, coach Parsons would get us up early Saturday, rain or shine, and load us up in a van and drive us a couple of miles and then we had to run back to the dorm,” Shidler said. “We went out Tates Creek Rd. and he let Tim and I out. But he said, ‘Mike, I am going to take you a little farther out.’ I don’t why Mike was in more trouble or don’t remember and we don’t know how far he took him.”
Shidler and Stephens made the run back to Euclid Ave. and Woodland Ave. where there was a doughnut shop. They slowed down because the dorm was nearby.
“We passed the doughnut shop and saw a big guy standing there getting doughnuts. It was Mike. We were in awe of how this guy got in front of us,” Shidler said. “He came out eating a bag of doughnuts and we asked him how he got in front of us.”
“He smiled and said, ‘Boys you have got to learn the ropes.’ Mike didn’t feel like running. He found a pay phone and had called a friend to pick him up and drive him to campus. He didn’t do any running. I don’t know if he did that every time he had to run but I do know he never seemed to mind the running or having to run never stopped him from doing anything.’”
One Response
Great story!