RIP Bum Phillips

Too young to remember him in Houston, but I remember he gave the Saints some respectability afterward. RIP

 

My favorite Bum quote was, on Earl Campbell: "If he's not in a class by himself, it doesn't take long to call roll."

Bum was my first celebrity autograph, when I was 9 years old, at the 1983 Senior Bowl. RIP.

 

Damn. RIP Bum.

 

Found this:

He might have been as much of the reason I became an Oilers fan in southwest Kansas when I was little as anything else.

 

I started following football in 1978. As a kid, I thought guys like Bum Phillips were normal. Took the passage of time to realize he was a complete original.

During his Saints days, I remember a Falcons fan swiped his cowboy hat in Atlanta and ran off into the crowd with it. I remember thinking it wasn't right ... you don't fuck with Phillips' hat.

RIP.

 

His image is plastered around Reliant Stadium for some BBQ that he endorses.
Bum was sainted by the city of Houston.
I last saw him and did an interview at a Mobile Seagulls arena game back around 2001. His son was coaching whoever Mobile was playing that night and Bum was in town for the game.
He was extremely down-home and folksy...very approachable.
The game has lost an icon.

 

Ol' Bum finally kicked that door in.

We'll miss him.

 

"Hey! Can I tell you one thing? That's three hoadin' penalties on one football team in a quarter and a half! (pause) That ain't funny."

Houston coaches should wear a 10-gallon hats this weekend.

 

"I want this put on my tombstone: He'd have lived a lot longer if he hadn't had to play Pittsburgh three times a year."

Lived a long full life anyway. RIP.

 

If I ran the NFL, I would require that. Sadly, I do not.

 

Remember reading a Playboy profile on him years ago where he said he only knew about three things: barbecue, football and pickup trucks.

RIP to a real character in a league with little of that anymore.