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Lost control Phills' fatal accident occurred during high-speed race
Posted: Thursday January 13, 2000 10:58 AM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Charlotte Hornets players Bobby Phills and David Wesley were racing each other in their Porsches when Phills lost control and was killed in a wreck, investigators said late Wednesday. Preliminary estimates show Phills and Wesley were driving at speeds of more than 75 mph when Phills lost control of his car just before 11 a.m. Wednesday, police Sgt. Ricky Robbins, a supervisor in the traffic unit conducting the investigation, told The Charlotte Observer. The speed limit in the area where Phills wrecked is 45 mph. Robbins said the two Hornets were in a spur-of-the-moment race, known under state law as a spontaneous speed competition. Racing on public thoroughfares is prohibited by state law, and the district attorney's office will determine what charges, if any, should be filed, he said. Both players have been charged with speeding in the past, the Observer reported. In February, Phills was charged with driving 60 mph in a 35-mph zone on Main Street in Pineville. Court records show he paid a $25 fine and $86 in court costs. Wesley was twice charged with speeding, according to Mecklenburg County court records. In October 1997, he was charged with driving 60mph in a 45-mph zone. He paid $80 in court costs, according to court records. In December 1998, Wesley was charged with driving 79 mph in a 65-mph zone on Interstate 485. He paid $80 in court costs, and successfully completed the National Safety Council's defensive-driving course six days after he was charged, according to court records. 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, 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. Wesley's car wasn't involved in the accident, but he was questioned at the scene. Phills' car, with the vanity plate "SLAMN," left skid marks several hundred feet long and came to rest in one of the opposite lanes, police said. Firefighters had to cut his body from the wreckage. Listed in stable condition Wednesday night at Presbyterian Hospital were Robert Woolard Jr., 31, of Cornelius, the driver of the other car. Yao Agbegbon, 33, of Charlotte, who was driving a minivan taxi, was treated at Presbyterian and released. "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 was a 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. 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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