By day, he is the president of Gardners Candies, but there is more to the world of Sam Phillips than making sure the Peanut Butter Meltaways come off the line. The New Jersey native has made an impact on the Tyrone community with his work at Gardners, and has been honored by the State College community for his work as State College Little League President and was named one of the Citizens of the Year for 2002 by Town and Gown magazine.
\nPhillips claims not to be the best athlete in the world, but what he does behind the scenes is what counts.
\n\u201cIn all honesty, this award belongs to many people,\u201d said Phillips. \u201cThis award goes to the numerous parents, volunteers and coaches that work to make the State College Little League successful.\u201d
\nThe effort Phillips puts into the State College Little League is even more special because he doesn\u2019t have a child playing in the league.
\nPhillips is the proud father of three children, Christopher, a Penn State grad, who is in the hotel business in Connecticut, Kevin, a sophomore film and art major at a school in Savannah, Ga., and Caroline, who attends State College High School and is a manager for the football team. Phillips wife, Laurene, is an editor at Penn State.
\n\u201cEven though Phillips was honored, he refuses to take credit for his leadership.
\n\u201cThe State College Little League is a product of dozens of people who work harder than I do. I\u2019m not the one who goes out there and lines the grass.\u201d
\nWith over 1,000 children playing Little League in State College, the task of keeping things focused is a job for more than one person.
\n\u201cWe have a Board of Directors who help organize everything,\u201d said Phillips. \u201cEverybody within the State College Little League is committed to giving the kids a great environment to learn and enjoy the game.\u201d
\nOne tough thing Phillips has had to deal with was the loss of the State College All-stars in the Eastern Regional Championship in 2001 to Danny Almonte and the Bronx Little League All-stars.
\nIt was later ruled that Almonte was ineligible and State College was awarded the Eastern Championship, but never had the chance to experience the Little League World Series.
\n\u201cThat was a very difficult period,\u201d said Phillips. \u201cI felt very disappointed for the children who worked so hard.
\nThe controversy didn\u2019t slow Phillips commitment to Little League.
\n\u201cThat was a situation where some parents acted badly,\u201d said Phillips. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t reflect on Little League. If anything, it gave us a stronger resolve to have a strong and fair program. You play to win, but it\u2019s not the end-all of it.\u201d
\nOne person who knows Phillips commitment is Penn State football\u2019s assistant head coach Fran Ganter, who has been a neighbor of Phillips for years.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t think of a better person who deserved this award,\u201d said Ganter. \u201cSam is an unbelievable caring person. He is more than a neighbor, he is a close friend. He is a terrific, very caring and thoughtful guy.\u201d
\nOne of the goals of youth baseball on any level is to teach the kids the game, and let them have fun.
\n\u201cSam has never lost that goal,\u201d said Ganter. \u201cHe is very careful in what role the \u2018Little League\u2019 mom and dad play. He makes sure the coaches have the opportunity to coach and the kids have the opportunity to have fun. He has never lost sight of that.\u201d
\nPhillips has served as president of the Tyrone Chamber of Commerce and has been with Gardners Candies since 1992.
\nMany parents get involved in Little League when their children are playing, but when they move on to Teener League, their involvement moves on as well. With Phillips, that was not the case.
\n\u201cPersonally it is more rewarding now,\u201d said Phillips. \u201cI really enjoy doing what I do with the State College Little League. It keeps me busy.\u201d
\n(Photo of Sam Phillips by Steve Tressler\/Mountain View Studios for Town and Gown Magazine)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By day, he is the president of Gardners Candies, but there is more to the world of Sam Phillips than making sure the Peanut Butter Meltaways come off the line. The New Jersey native has made an impact on the Tyrone community with his work at Gardners, and has been honored by the State College […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}