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Wrapping up the summer heat

It’s that time of the summer when pools close and work in the classroom starts back up.

Here in Wood County, the teachers have been back and students are welcomed in today. The same holds true for Roane, Ritchie, Tyler and Pleasants counties. Calhoun County has one more day of reprieve before everyone heads bright and early Friday to Mt. Zion.

Some areas still have another weekend before returning. Doddridge County doesn’t head back until Tuesday. Wirt County and Gilmer County return Monday. Enjoy that last bastion of summer freedom boys and girls.

For prep student-athletes, they’ve been back at it on the gridiron going on two full weeks.

Golf has been moving along with matches while soccer, cross country and volleyball are gearing up for grueling campaigns ahead.

However, the start of the school year will be different today since longtime Hamilton Middle School teacher and former Parkersburg High School tennis coach Pam Reeves is no longer with us.

It was also tough to learn on Wednesday former PHS Big Red and Hunt Award winner Rick Phillips, who played on West Virginia University’s 1988 undefeated team with Major Harris which lost the national title game to Notre Dame, passed away.

The Phillips dynasty at Parkersburg High School ran for a decade as oldest brother Dave, followed by Larry and then Mike and Rick were part of the Big Reds each season from 1974 to 1983 aside from the ’78 campaign.

Thrice, the Hunt Award went to a Phillips, which is given annually to the best lineman in the Mountain State. Dave in 1976, Larry in 1977 and Rick in 1983 each collected that hardware. The trio was joined by brother Mike and enshrined in the PHS Football Hall of Fame back in 2011.

“He coached the baseball team all four years I was there,” recalled ex-Big Red Wirt Cook. “I’ll tell you, he wasn’t the best baseball mind, but the dude was a master motivator.

“A lot of people remember him for being loud and yelling and screaming and being your typical offensive lineman-type personality, but he knew when he needed to be a little more soft spoken.”

Most recently, Rick Phillips was the St. Marys city manager and had previously worked for the city of Parkersburg.

A first-team all-stater for the Big Reds, he lettered four years as a Mountaineer from 1985-1988.

Along with the 34-21 loss against the Fighting Irish in the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl as a senior, one of the most memorable games I personally recall with WVU and Phillips was the 1987 John Hancock Sun Bowl.

Unfortunately, that affair ended much like the national title run against Notre Dame did a year later with a bitter loss.

This time, instead of falling to Lou Holtz and the Irish, the Mountaineers came up on the wrong end of a wild 35-33 score to Oklahoma State, which happened to feature Thurman Thomas and also had Barry Sanders, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy a season later.

“He was a gentle giant, but more giant than gentle,” Cook added.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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