Two For the Price of One

If Neil Phillips' high school football team had won or lost its final game his senior year, the talented Harvard junior probably would not have decided to juggle two major college sports.

Just two weeks ago, Phillips was snagging passes from football quarterback Tom Yohe as the gridders captured The Game.

And last weekend, Phillips was snagging passes from basketball point guard Mike Gielen as the cagers finished third in the Joe Lapchick tournament held in N.Y.

But it was that final high school game--as Landon High School's final contest ended in a tie--that left Phillips with an empty feeling and a hunger for more football.

"I was in limbo," Phillips said. "I knew it was my final high school game, and for it to end in a tie left me with an empty feeling."

A three-sport letterman in high school, the Germantown, Md. native had decided to concentrate solely on basketball at Harvard, although "football was an option," Phillips said. "I wanted to see what college basketball was all about."

And as a freshman, the plan worked out. From day one, he was in the cagers' starting lineup, and at the end of the season, Phillips was named co-MVP after averaging 11.5 points and 5.5 rebounds a game.

But Neil Phillips might just be a little too good of an athlete for his own well-being. As his friends in Kirkland talked of the upcoming football season, Phillips began to miss football, and memories of that last high school game resurfaced.

As a sophomore last year, Phillips finally decided to go out for football, but spent much of his time learning the complicated Multiflex system as he caught only six passes for 51 yards for the 3-7 squad. And when the basketball season rolled around, he was out of basketball shape.

"What made it a tough decision," Phillips said, "is that I had to think about how much it was going to hurt the [basketball] team, and how it would disrupt the rhythm that was set when I wasn't there."

"He really didn't round into shape until January of last season," Harvard Coach Peter Roby said.

At which time, Phillips began to showcase his talents, including scoring 10 consecutive points in the Crimson's shocking 93-91 overtime victory over Penn.

After missing the team's two opening contests--both Crimson losses--because he was out of shape from football, Phillips was forced to watch from the academic probation sidelines as his basketball teammates lost their final five contests without him.

"I ran into some problems," Phillips said. "I didn't start off well, I got into some bad study habits, and I dug myself into a hole."

He did average 10.6 points a game and 4.5 rebounds, but played in only 19 contests. Amazingly, the squad was 9-10 with Phillips in the lineup, 0-7 without him.

This year, however, Phillips is starting to catch on.

On the gridiron, the 6-ft., 5-in. Phillips was an integral part of the Crimson's passing attack, nabbing 14 passes for 191 yards, and two touchdowns.

He's still not in shape for basketball, "I'm far from it," he says, but he is trying to make up for it in other ways.

"I'm making up for my physical deficiencies by being mentally prepared," Phillips said. "Physically, I was a little slow, a step slower than everyone else [in the Lapchick tournament] and the mechanics of my shot are not there just yet."

Phillips has been practicing with his basketball teammates since Monday of last week, only two days after the conclusion of the gridders' Ivy winning championships season, yet he saw 19 minutes of action as the Crimson placed third in the Lapchick tournament.

"The second I stepped onto the court," Phillips said, "football season was over."

Although he missed all six shots he took in the two combined games, he did come up with a pair of steals in the Crimson's 87-83 consolation victory over Tennesse Tech.

"Coach Roby gave me some valuable game conditioning minutes," Phillips said. "He's always been very understanding."

"I'm very hopeful that when Neil gets back into shape again," Roby said, "and when he gets comfortable, and we get comfortable playing with him, that he'll give us a tremendous boost."

"Things are falling into place although I never thought it would be easy," Phillips said.