Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. | March 13, 1954
Listed height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) |
Listed weight | 215 lb (98 kg) |
Career information | |
High school | Broughton (Raleigh, North Carolina) |
College | |
NBA draft | 1976: 6th round, 92nd overall pick |
Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks | |
Position | Forward |
Career history | |
As coach: | |
1979–1989 | Cary HS |
1989–1999 | East Wake HS |
2000–2004 | North Carolina Central |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Phil Spence (born March 13, 1954) is a retired American basketball player and coach. [1] He was a key contributor on the 1974 North Carolina State Wolfpack national championship team. [1]
Spence was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. [1] He attended Broughton High School in Raleigh where he starred on the basketball team. [1] As a junior center, he led Broughton to the state 4-A tournament in 1971. [1] His senior year, Spence was Wake County Player of the Year. [2] He was also a Converse All-American. [1] He graduated from Broughton in 1972. [3]
Spence was recruited to by junior college Vincennes University as a forward. [1] His freshman year, he was selected a National Junior College Athletic Association All-American for 1972-1973. [1] However, he transferred to North Carolina State University his sophomore year, graduating with a B.S. in vocational industrial education in 1976. [4]
Spence transferred to North Carolina State University (NC State) in time to become a key reserve on a team that was the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular-season champion, the ACC tournament champion, and the 1974 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship team. [1] [5] As a sophomore, Spence was the first player off the bench and averaged 6.0 points and 6.3 rebounds a game as the Wolfpack went 30-1 and broke UCLA's string of seven straight titles. [2] [5]
Spence used to call himself and the team’s other Black players "The Jive Five." [2] NC State's first Black basketball player to have a full scholarship was selected in 1969, so this "group of tall Black students at NC State was new" in 1973 when just 3% of students were Black. [2] The Jive Five included Dwight Johnson, Moe Rivers, Phi Spence, and David Thompson. [2]
Spence started the next two seasons at NC State, his junior and senior years. As a junior, he led the team with 281 rebounds and was third in scoring with 368 points, averaging 13.1 points and 10.0 rebounds a game. [1] [6] He was the top rebounder in sixteen of the team's 28 games in the 1974-1975 season, and high scorer for three games. [7]
In his senior year, he was the team's second-leading scorer and rebounder with 438 points, averaging 114.6 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. [6] [1] He was the top rebounder in ten of thirty games and was the high scorer twice. [7] That year, NC State did not win the ACC Tournament to gain entry to the NCAA championship; however, they did play in the National Invitational Tournament, winning two games and losing the third by one point. [7]
Throughout is college career, Spence's field goal average was 54.2% and his free throw average was 74.3%. [6]
The 6 foot 8 inches tall and 215-pound Spence was selected in the 6th round of the 1976 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks (6th pick, 92nd pick overall), however, he did not make the final roster. [8] [6] [2]
Following the end of his basketball career, Spence turned to coaching. [1] He spent a year teaching and volunteering as an assistant varsity boys' basketball coach under his former head coach Ed McLean at Broughton High School starting in 1977. [1] He then coached basketball at Cary High School from 1979 to 1989, serving as the junior varsity coach for four years and as head varsity coach for six years. [4]
He was the head coach at East Wake High School in Raleigh from 1989 to 1999. [1] He led East Wake to three consecutive state playoff appearances and won the Tri-6 Conference championship four times. [1] He was selected the Wake County Coach of the Year and the Tri-6 Conference Coach of the Year in both 1991 and 1992. [1]
After leaving East Wake, Spence worked with behavior emotional disadvantaged youth in grades 6 through 12 as the career development coordinator at Longview School in Raleigh. [4]
On July 14, 2000, Spence was named head coach of North Carolina Central University (NCCU), replacing Greg Jackson. [9] Spence coached four seasons at NCCU through the 2003-04 season, [10] He was the 2003 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Men's Basketball Coach of the Year. [9] The team was 16-13 his final season, with a four-year record of 49-64. [10]
In March 2004, NCCU announced that they were not renewing Spence's contract. [10] NCCU athletics director William Hayes said, "We appreciate the service and dedication that Phil has given to the men's basketball program at NCCU during the past four seasons. At this time, however, we feel we need to head in a new direction." [10]
Spence is married to Paula. [1] They have two daughters, Porche and Pauletta. [1]
In December 2001, Spence had a mild stroke and was hospitalized. [12] After his stroke, he changed his diet, lost weight, and tried to reduce his stress levels. [13] Spence also used his platform of the 2002 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Men's Basketball tournament to talk to others about reducing the risk of stroke and to offer health screenings. [13] He said, "I think everything happens for a reason." [13]
On Sunday mornings, Spence and his former North Carolina State teammates share their version of church via text. [2] David Thompson, called "Deacon David," starts the service videos of gospel songs. [2] Spence texts "an informal worship service" and Tommy Burleson or "Pastor Tommy" sends a devotional. [2] Dwight Johnson also participated until his death in 2019. [2]
North Carolina Central University is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from both Northern and Southern philanthropists. It was made part of the state system in 1923, when it first received state funding and was renamed as Durham State Normal School. It added graduate classes in arts and sciences and professional schools in law and library science in the late 1930s and 1940s.
Everett Norris Case, nicknamed the "Old Gray Fox", was a basketball coach most notable for his tenure at North Carolina State University, from 1946 to 1964.
Norman Leslie Sloan Jr. was an American college basketball player and coach. Sloan was a native of Indiana and played college basketball and football at North Carolina State University. He began a long career as a basketball coach months after graduating from college in 1951, and he was the men's basketball head coach at Presbyterian College, The Citadel, North Carolina State University, and two stints at the University of Florida. Over a career that spanned 38 seasons, Sloan was named conference coach of the year five times and won the 1974 national championship at North Carolina State, his alma mater. He was nicknamed "Stormin' Norman" due to his combative nature with the media, his players, and school administrators, and his collegiate coaching career ended in controversy when Florida's basketball program was under investigation in 1989, though Sloan claimed that he was treated unfairly.
William G. Enloe GT/IB Magnet Center for the Humanities, Sciences and the Arts, also known as Enloe Magnet High School or Enloe High School, is a public magnet high school offering Gifted & Talented and International Baccalaureate programs located in eastern Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. It is operated under the Wake County Public School System. The first integrated public high school in the city of Raleigh, it was named after William Gilmore Enloe, the Mayor of Raleigh at the time the school was opened.
Timothy Paul Stoddard is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is one of only two men to have played in both a World Series and a Final Four of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, along with fellow East Chicago Washington High School alumnus Kenny Lofton.
The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports since the 1953–54 season. The athletic teams of the Wolfpack compete in 22 intercollegiate varsity sports. NC State is a founding member of the ACC and has won ten national championships: four NCAA championships, two AIAW championships, and four titles under other sanctioning bodies. Most NC State fans and athletes recognize the rivalry with the North Carolina Tar Heels as their biggest.
Cary High School is one of six public high schools in Cary, North Carolina and is part of the Wake County Public School System. In 1907, Cary High School became the first state-funded public high school in North Carolina. It was selected as a Blue Ribbon School in 2002.
John W. Ligon GT Magnet Middle School, formerly John W. Ligon Junior-Senior High School, is a public magnet middle school in the Wake County Public School System located in the Chavis Heights neighborhood of Raleigh, North Carolina. It was historically an all black high school in Raleigh until it was integrated in 1971.
The NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team represents North Carolina State University in NCAA Division I men's basketball competition. N.C. State is one of the seven founding members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Prior to joining the ACC in 1954, the Wolfpack was a member of the Southern Conference, where they won seven conference championships. As a member of the ACC, the Wolfpack has won ten conference championships, as well as two national championships in 1974 and 1983. State's unexpected 1983 title was one of the most memorable in NCAA history.
Needham B. Broughton High School, commonly known as Broughton High School, is one of thirty-two high schools in the Wake County Public School System. It is located at 723 St. Mary's Street, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Broughton was named after businessman and politician, Needham B. Broughton, who contributed much to the public schools of the Raleigh area. Broughton is known for its castle-like stone facade design and tall bell tower. The architect was William Henley Deitrick.
Kenneth Alan Carr is a retired American basketball player. Carr was the 1st round pick of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1977 NBA draft.
Monte Corwin Towe is an American basketball coach and retired basketball player. He was a starting point guard on the 1973–74 North Carolina State Wolfpack men's basketball team which won the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. At five feet seven inches, Towe is also one of the ten shortest players in NBA history.
LeVelle DeShea Moton is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach of the men's basketball team at North Carolina Central University. He was a former player at North Carolina Central, having graduated in 1996.
The NC State Wolfpack women's basketball team represents North Carolina State University in NCAA Division I women's basketball.
The North Carolina A&T–North Carolina Central rivalry is an ongoing series of athletic competitions between North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and North Carolina Central University, both of which are located in North Carolina.
The NC State–Wake Forest rivalry is a series of athletic contests between in-state rivals, the North Carolina State University Wolfpack and the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons. The first game was played in 1895 between the two institutions. Wake Forest was originally located in Wake Forest, North Carolina until it moved its campus across the state of North Carolina to Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1956. The two universities are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, where they meet every year in football due to being aligned in the Atlantic Division. The schools play each other twice in basketball every season, due to being primary partners.
Wendell Horace Moore Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils.
Isaiah Todd is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the best power forwards in the 2020 class. A former Michigan commit, Todd chose to forgo his college eligibility to become the first player in history to sign with NBA G League Ignite. He finished his high school career at the Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Jibri Blount is an American football tight end who is a free agent. He played college basketball for the Cleveland State Vikings and the North Carolina Central Eagles. He converted to football and signed with the Miami Dolphins in 2021.
Elizabeth Ann Kitley is an American college basketball player for the Virginia Tech Hokies of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).