Gary Philips:
CLASS OF 1970
Brophy College Preparatory SchoolClass of 1970
Phoenix, AZ
Our Lady of Mount Carmel SchoolClass of 1966
Tempe, AZ
Gary's Story
Brophy was a great experience for me. Got to be Freshman class president, 3 year letterman, and a great education among other things. One regret tho. It was at the end of my sophomore year and Coach Aldrich wanted me to come 20 miles (I lived in Tempe) during the summer to practice throwing with our receivers. I was very much into baseball then and told him it would interfere with my summer baseball. The jerk then asked me to choose between the two. "What's it going to be Philips, football or baseball?" I should have told him both but instead I chose baseball and didn't go out for football my junior year. Got into a bad auto wreck the next summer and couldn't go out for football my senior year either.
But sometimes things have a way of working out for the better. I tried to make the baseball squads at ASU and then Mesa CC and couldn't make either. I got despondent, dropped out of school and promptly lost my 2S deferment meaning you're in the army now. My draft number was 25 that year and they drafted into the high 280's I think. Now this was 1972 and the Vietnam War was still going on. I'm sweating bullets about going there and then I see Richard Nixon come on TV and say, "We will send no new troops to Vietnam". Been my favorite president ever since.
I was made an MP and sent to South Korea, the southern most tip, Pusan. The further away from the DMZ the warmer it was (tho I still froze my ass off) and the more relaxed it became. I think we went on military alert only 2 or 3 times in the 14 months I was there. I was real lucky too. Never had to pull my .45 out of my holster, issued one traffic citation to a KATUSA (Korean Augmentation To the United States Army) who backed a 2 and 1/2 ton diesel truck into a block wall, and broke up one fight between a 300lb merchant sailor and an off duty GI.
While I was there something happened that I often tell those who complain about how overworked they are. The Army kept rotating troops out but didn't have enough replacements. We were so short handed that I worked 77 straight days 12 hours on, 12 hours off. What a bad beat that was, but I did it...Expand for more
. It's amazing the things you could do when you were young.
There was a little dinky casino near Pusan on what they called the Miami beach of Korea, Hyundai beach. It was there I became interested in blackjack. Bought a book called Playing Blackjack For A Living by Lawrence Revere and became hooked.
After the service I moved to Las Vegas and took lessons from the author whose real name was Speck Parsons. When it became clear I wasn't going to make my fortune playing 21, I got a job as a vacuum salesman. Tried to sell those damn Rainbows (really great vac by the way) but wasn't cut out to be a salesman.
However it was there that I met my first wife with whom we had two great kids, Gary Jr and Matthew. Jr has his doctorate from Cal Irving and Matt teaches math and is a tennis coach at one of the high schools in Vegas. They are what I meant by saying how things turned out for the better. If I'd decided to play football my junior year all the things would not have fallen into place and I'd never have these two sons of mine.
I've been married now four times and the fourth time is the charm. I'm a thorough believer in the trial and error method. My first lasted 7 years, had two great kids and broke up because of my gambling. My second wife was a poker dealer. We were together 7 yrs and that broke up because of my gambling. My third wife was a cute cocktail waitress and lasted 7 years. I know now what they mean when they say you got a tiger by the tail. We broke up because of her drug habit and unfaithfulness.
My present wife, Karen is pretty and smart as a whip. In case you're wondering this relationship has gone well past the 7 year barrier. And I don't gamble much either. We've been together 26 years now. I think I've finally got it right.
We've lived in Walls, MS for 6 yrs then moved to Aurora, IN for a couple more yrs and then to Dubuque, Iowa for a very cold year. After that we moved back to where I spent my childhood, the Valley of the Sun in Arizona and that's where we are presently.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks for listening. Hope I didn't bore you silly.
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