By Dylan Edwards, SMUMustangs.com
On Sunday afternoon, SMU great Gene Phillips' No. 23 became just the third number in program history to be honored in the rafters at Moody Coliseum, joining Jim Krebs and Jon Koncak. When SMU's Director of Athletics
Rick Hart phoned him in December to inform him, the former sharpshooter was taken aback.
"I was more in shock than anything to realize of all the great players and to be honored like this and only being the third one, is mind-boggling to me," Phillips said. "I was just a young kid that came up here at 18-years-old to play basketball with his brother. I played with a lot of great teammates. Now, 50 years later, you just look back and go 'Wow'. We didn't realize what we were doing back then."
Phillips set the program record with 1,932 career points, which is still second. His 26.1 points per game for a career still sits atop the SMU record books. More impressively, he did it all without the help of a 3-point line.
It seemed the current group of Mustangs would remind him of that during the ECU game, as the team nailed 11 from deep while shooting its best 3-point percentage in a game this season.
"There's an arc on the court now," Phillips jokingly said. "You get three when you shoot behind it. I didn't understand that because it looks really close to me. It doesn't look that far out there."
Phillips, who spent the last few decades still in the sports realm, recently moved back to the Dallas area after retiring. Given his lasting love for the school, he'll no doubt be around SMU athletics.
"I've always kept up with (SMU)," Phillips said. "I haven't been able to attend many games. I've been in public education. I've been an athletic director for 20-something years. I coached boys and girls basketball, so I was always tied up during the winter. I watched them all the time on tv. I followed them and know what happened all the way through the years. I'm still a Mustang, and I love SMU. I appreciate what they're doing. I think they have things going in the right direction."
It's apparent that Phillips had an extremely special experience as a student-athlete at SMU. While he scored the ball better than any Mustang, some of his favorite moments came when Moody wasn't rocking.
"My favorite memories are of my teammates," Phillips said. "Living in the dorms with them and the apartments during the summer. Working out with them. Some of my favorite memories of Moody were not when it was packed. It was when we were in there on Saturday morning practicing. Having the whole life experience of growing up with them."
While it is just his number that is now immortalized in Moody Coliseum, Phillips is quick to attribute his success to others.
"It means a lot," Phillips said. "It means more to my family and teammates. I want them to enjoy the moment as much as me. It's more their honor than mine. I would have accomplished nothing without them."
