Video from WSOC shows Hornets star LaMelo Ball crashing his custom Hummer at the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets in Uptown Charlotte. By WSOC TV
Kendall Phills saw the video of the LaMelo Ball car crash Wednesday, and it all came flooding back.
A high-profile Charlotte Hornet, involved in a high-profile wreck in a high-performance car.
Twisted metal. Scattered debris. Police cars. Gathering crowds.
The difference, of course, was quite literally the difference between life and death. No one was killed when Ball crashed his custom Hummer. But Kendall Phills is a widow and has been for 26 years, because her husband Bobby Phills, the former Charlotte Hornet, died in his own car crash in 2000.
I talked to Kendall Phills, who still lives in Charlotte, on Thursday.
“I saw that video clip of LaMelo’s wreck,” she said. “The first thing that came to my mind was: ‘Did anybody get killed?’ Because it looked kind of bad. And when I realized no one was killed, and hopefully no one seriously hurt — that was a relief to me. Because I know that a life can change in one second. Like mine did.”
Dwayne Phills raises his brother Bobby's jersey with help from Bobby Phills' son Trey, 3, as the Charlotte Hornets retire the number during a ceremony at the old Charlotte Coliseum on Feb. 8, 2000. Bobby Phills had been killed in a car crash one month before. Charlotte Observer File photo
‘Death doesn’t discriminate’
Ball’s wreck was big news in Charlotte on Wednesday because, well, it was LaMelo. He’s possibly the Hornets’ best player, but undeniably their flashiest and most recognizable. And it happened in the heart of uptown Charlotte. And there was video of it. Bits and pieces of news about the crash and its aftermath will undoubtedly unspool over the next few days or weeks.
But ultimately — much like the Charlotte-area wrecks of Cam Newton, Andy Dalton, Jaycee Horn and several other well-known athletes — the Ball crash will become a footnote. That’s what can happen, thankfully, when a wreck doesn’t kill anybody.
Bobby Phills’ wreck, though, never really faded away for his family. In my nearly 32 years covering Charlotte sports, it remains of the most utterly shocking deaths I’ve ever had to write about.
“Death doesn’t discriminate,” Kendall Phills said. “I’ve learned that the hard way. Pro athletes aren’t invincible. They are human, just like we all are.”
The Charlotte Hornets honored the late Bobby Phills and re-hung his retired No. 13 jersey at halftime of the team's game vs the Memphis Grizzlies on Nov. 1, 2014. The jersey also had been displayed in New Orleans, when the New Orleans Hornets existed. Jeff Siner jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
Every time I go into Spectrum Center, where the Hornets play today, I look up and see Bobby Phills’ No. 13 jersey hanging high in the rafters. It remains the only Hornets jersey there, and it’s been that way for 26 years, although Dell Curry’s No. 30 will join it in a ceremony on March 19.
“I’m glad Dell is going up there, too,” Kendall Phills said. “Bobby’s jersey has been lonely — it’s been solo up there for too long.”
‘If you speed just a little, you can lose a lot’
On Jan. 12, 2000, Kendall Phills had just dropped off her three-year-old son Trey at preschool and was back home with her baby daughter, Kerstie. She got a call from Shannon Wesley, the wife of Hornet David Wesley, with the news that would alter the Phills family forever.
Bobby Phills had lost control of his souped-up black Porsche on Tyvola Road that morning. He had been driving way too fast and was killed instantly when his Porsche skidded into an oncoming Oldsmobile. He was 30 years old.
Bobby Phills goes up and scores for the Charlotte Hornets in November 1999. Charlotte Observer File photo
Wesley, Phills’ best friend, had seen the accident in his rearview mirror. He was on the phone with his then-wife and had been speeding, too, although Wesley has always maintained the two were not racing. Phills and Wesley had been at a Hornets shootaround and were taking separate cars to meet for a late breakfast at a Charlotte pancake house.
Was speeding an issue in the Ball crash? That isn’t clear yet.
It also isn’t clear what happened in October 2023, when a lawsuit filed in Mecklenburg County alleges that Ball ran over the foot of a 12-year-old boy trying to get his autograph. The boy had approached Ball’s car after a scrimmage in the Spectrum Center, but Ball drove off.
The Hornets asked to be dismissed from the lawsuit and a judge granted that request in October. The lawsuit remains against Ball, whose legal team has argued that the boy caused his own injuries. On Wednesday, a lawyer for the boy’s family filed a court document asking for more time to schedule a mediation session in the case.
A photo taken in 2001 of Kendall Phills, in front of the jersey of her deceased husband, Bobby. Charlotte Observer File photo
Kendall Phills is now a real-estate agent in Charlotte and runs her own charitable foundation. She is certain that, in general, many accidents would be prevented if people would simply slow down. She used to sometimes have her husband’s crumpled-up Porsche towed to Charlotte-area high schools before giving a speech about safe driving, trying to give a “Scared Straight” lesson about what excessive speed can do.
“If you speed just a little, you can lose a lot,” she said.
‘Nobody is immortal’
In the 26 years since her husband’s death, Kendall Phills has remained in Charlotte. She lives in the Cotsworld area and is an empty-nester. The two children she and Bobby had are thriving.
Trey Phills, who played basketball at Yale, will soon turn 30 — the same age Bobby was when he died. Trey is a social-media content creator, specializing in sports storytelling. He recently published a video about his father’s death and his own journey that reached more than a million views across various platforms. Kerstie Phills is a physician’s assistant in Florida, working for a dermatologist.
Now 54 years old, Kendall Phills remains a Hornets fan “for life,” she said. She maintains a number of basketball connections. Her younger sister, Keryl, married Stephen Silas, a longtime NBA coach who is also the son of former Hornets coach Paul Silas.
Kendall Phills is appreciative that the Hornets organization has always kept her husband’s jersey hanging prominently in the rafters, even now, when a new generation of Charlotte fans may not know exactly who he is.
As a player, Bobby Phills wasn’t an all-star but was what you would call a “glue guy” — he could do a little bit of everything. Phills was once labeled by Michael Jordan as one of the best defenders he had ever faced.
Charlotte Hornet Bobby Phills (left) defends Chicago’s Michael Jordan in a 1998 NBA playoff series. Phills would die in a car crash in Charlotte in 2000, at age 30. Charlotte Observer File photo
Phills’ one off-court weakness, though, was fast cars. He had his seatbelt on during his wreck, but the impact was so severe that he died from internal injuries. As Kendall Phills has often said, Bobby made “one terrible mistake,” and the rest of the family has lived with it for years. (The driver of the Oldsmobile that Phills ran into was a local insurance adjuster. He was also hurt, but recovered from his injuries).
Police look at Bobby Phills' crumpled Porsche on Tyvola Road after a car accident on Jan. 12, 2000. Phills, a standout player for the Charlotte Hornets, died instantly when he skidded into an oncoming Oldsmobile while speeding. He was 30 years old. Charlotte Observer File photo
I asked Kendall Phills one final question. What would she say if she could address every high school, college and pro athlete in Charlotte at once?
“Speed kills,” Kendall Phills said. “Everyone needs to know that. You can be a superstar franchise player, a rookie or a regular person. Please. Just be responsible and make smart decisions when you get behind the wheel of a car. Nobody is immortal.”