Ray Holloman's column in the Jan. 19 edition of The Chronicle makes the right point, but uses the wrong person to illustrate it. Try to be a good man, and the world will remember. I've heard the advice many times, and I do my best to follow it. I don't claim to know much about Bobby Phills or his career, but I do know that his life was ended by a single unnecessary act of indiscretion. Like Pete Rose's gambling, The Race Gone Wrong will be a label that will follow Phills into infamy. I think basketball will eventually forgive Bobby Phills. I know I will.
But we need to take a lesson away from all of this-the squandering of such a talent is an incredible shame. Many of us try to be great men, and it is hard not to make mistakes, but the truly great always look before they leap, and never waste what they've been given.
Jim Fitzpatrick
Trinity '03
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