Dode Phillips

David Gardiner "Dode" Phillips III (January 2, 1900 – December 29, 1965) was an American football player and coach.[2] He coached high school in Anderson, South Carolina and then his alma mater.[3] He also played several years of minor league baseball before committing to coaching full-time at Moultrie High School in Georgia.[4] Moultrie High won the south Georgia title in 1928.[5] Phillips worked for NBC WFBC as a sports analyst and color commentator in 1937 and 1938 before returning to the sideline as an assistant for Jakie Todd at Erskine.[6] In 1941, Todd was appointed as chief of the state pardon and parole board. Phillips took over and coached Erskine for the final three games of the season.[7]

In 1950, a pool of sportswriters named him the best athlete of the first half of the 20th century in South Carolina.[8] Phillips played for the Erskine Flying Fleet of Erskine College. He was inducted to the school's sports hall of fame.[9][10] Some writers picked him All-Southern in 1921.[11] Walter Camp included him as an Honorable Mention All-American halfback in 1921.[12] In 1965, just before his death, Phillips was selected to be admitted to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Hall of Fame.[13][14]