Born: February 24, 1928
Died: June 22, 1993
Hometown: Macon, MS
Year of Induction: 1972
College Career
USM (1947-1950)
• Led baseball team with 35 hits (’48)
• Little All-America halfback, 2nd team (’50)
• All-Gulf States Conference halfback (’50)
• Rushed for 100 or more yards in seven different games
• Senior Bowl (’51)
• USM Football Team of the Century (’00)
Pro Baseball Career
Detroit Tigers (1955, 1963-1964)
Chicago White Sox (1956-1959)
Cleveland Indians (1960-1962)
• American League Champions (’59)
• Batted .300 vs. Dodgers in World Series (’59)
Did You Know?
From Rick Cleveland’s column in The Clarion-Ledger, Wednesday, June 23, 1993: “The story of how tiny Southern ‘recruited’ Phillips is legend. Phillips scored 235 points as a Macon High School senior. LSU thought they had him. But a Greyhound bus bound for Baton Rouge made a pit stop in Hattiesburg. Southern football coaches, alerted that Phillips was on the bus, coaxed him into making a short campus visit. Phillips’ suitcase made it to Baton Rouge; Phillips never did.”
