Texas Reads>> archiveGlenn Dromgoole

6.4.2017   Son learned from his father’s coaching

Just in time for Father’s Day comes a book with probably the best title of the year — Son of Bum by Wade Phillips (Diversionbooks, $25.99 hardcover). The subtitle is “Lessons My Dad Taught Me About Football and Life.”

The author’s father was Bum Phillips, the colorful and often quoted coach of the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints. Bum passed away in 2013. “My dad was my hero,” Wade Phillips writes. “Pretty much everything I know about life, football, and coaching, I learned from him. He shaped me as a man, as a husband, as a father, and as a football coach.”

Wade starts each chapter with a quote from Bum, and several times he repeats his dad’s philosophy about the instability of the coaching profession, “There are two kinds of coaches in this business: them that get fired and them that’s gonna get fired.” Wade, of course, has seen his share of ups and downs, as did Bum. The son coached alongside his father for about ten years, later was head coach at Denver, Buffalo, and Dallas.

One of the high points of Wade’s career was winning the Super Bowl in 2016, when he was defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos. “As blessed as I am to have gotten that first Super Bowl ring,” Wade writes, “I’m even more blessed that I got to spend all of those years coaching with my dad.”

Wade, who turns seventy this month, begins a new chapter this year as defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams. His son, Wes Phillips, is also a pro football coach, following in his dad’s and granddad’s footsteps.

Veteran Buffalo sportswriter and broadcaster Vic Carucci is co-author. The book includes more than three dozen black and white photos, many of them fuzzy and grainy.

One of my favorite stories from the book was when Bum was a high school coach in Nederland. The wife of one of the assistant coaches called the field house one day in tears because her husband was spending so much time away from home. “You love football more than you love me,” she wailed.

The coach thought for a second and then replied, “Yeah, but I love you more than basketball.”

Bum and Wade Phillips are both inductees in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, headquartered in Waco.

Speaking of that, the hall is hosting a sports book festival on Saturday, July 15, from 10 am to 4 pm, featuring fifteen Texas authors who have written books having to do with Texas sports. Carlton Stowers, Al Pickett, Mac Engle, Chad S. Conine, and Jim Reeves are among the writers who will be speaking and signing books.

Admission is free, and if you contact Jay Black, vice president for operations at the hall, he can give you free VIP tickets with preferred seating and other benefits. Email him at jay.black@tshof.org or call 254-756-1633.

For more on the festival, go to the hall’s website, www.tshof.org.

Glenn Dromgoole’s latest book is West Texas StoriesContact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.

>> Read his past Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Literary Life here.