James D. Phillips, sports enthusiast
Jim "Flipper" Phillips, the basketball coach at Penn Charter High School, had one serious critic: his father, Doug. "After a game, I'd be scared to go by him," Jim said. "He would say, 'You know what you should have done.' He would always have a spin on how he would have done it."
Jim "Flipper" Phillips, the basketball coach at Penn Charter High School, had one serious critic: his father, Doug.
"After a game, I'd be scared to go by him," Jim said. "He would say, 'You know what you should have done.' He would always have a spin on how he would have done it."
The main thing about his father was that he had a passion for always doing your best. He wouldn't tolerate half an effort, from himself or others.
When Jim was playing basketball at Penn Charter, he would get in the car with his father after a game, and all his father wanted to know was did he do his best.
"He didn't care if we won or lost," Jim said. "He wanted to know whether I played hard, whether I gave it my best effort.
"The most important thing to him was did I give it my all."
James Douglas Phillips, a longtime government employee, high school basketball referee and coach, died Thursday of complications from cancer. He was 58 and lived in the Northeast.
Doug officiated at boys and girls basketball games in the Catholic and public leagues for about 20 years.
He refereed several Catholic League girls' championship games. He was assigned games through the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials (IAABO).
Doug also coached girls basketball at Penn Charter and middle-school boys football.
He was born in Philadelphia to Jim Rocco Phillips and the former Marie Dugan. He attended Our Lady of Calvary Parochial School and graduated from Father Judge High School.
At Judge, Doug was the Crusaders' first mascot, riding a horse at games dressed in faux armor. After high school, he went to work for the Frankford Arsenal, then the U.S. Mint and lastly the Navy Depot on Robbins Avenue, where he was an equipment specialist.
After his retirement a few years ago, he was a host for the Phillies' Diamond Club and Hall of Fame Club.
He liked to take in the games at Penn Charter coached by his son, where he would be the loudest complainer of the officiating, even though he knew many of the officials.
"He was hard-working, stubborn, but understanding," Jim said. "He was a blue-collar guy all his life. He would not accept anything less than your best effort."
Besides his son, James Douglas Jr., he is survived by a daughter, Colleen Phillips Bell; a sister, Mary Ellen; two half-sisters, Christine and Roseanne; and three grandchildren.
Services: Funeral Mass 10 a.m. tomorrow at Our Lady of Calvary Church, 11024 Knights Road. Friends may call at 6 this evening at the Givnish Funeral Home, 10975 Academy Road, and 8:15 a.m. tomorrow at the funeral home. Burial in Resurrection Cemetery, Bensalem. *