Shamrocks senior tops in rushing and smiles

Phillips' positive attitude fuels 4,456 career yards

 

Tim Phillips remembers a time when his bright smile was more of a scowl, when his positive attitude toward life was more of a cloudy one, when playing football was more about himself than his team.

 

Those were his youth-league days.

 

"My attitude was horrible," said Phillips, now a senior at Trinity High School. "My father would get mad at me after every game because of my attitude and how I carried myself."

 

These days it's hard to imagine seeing Phillips without a bright smile, without a warm greeting, without a positive outlook. It's part of the persona that led Shamrocks coach Bob Beatty to say, "I've been very blessed to coach him."

 

Phillips attributes the turnaround to the death of his father, Timothy Dale Phillips Sr., after a heart attack at age 55 when Tim was an eighth-grader at Noe Middle School.

 

"A lot of people might see it as a negative, but my main goal in life has been to get closer to God," Phillips said. "I think God took him away from me so I could get closer to God. … When my father passed, my whole perspective changed."

 

Read the rest here: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20081212/SPORTS05/812120535&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

 

Great article Jason.

Very, very nice article. The video says it all. Go ROCKS. Bring home #19.