As a sportswriter, Phillips covered more than 60 world title fights and wrote the contenders before and after stories-filled with a wonderworld of people, lots of them decent, tough, and honest, while others were cold-eyed predators in Armani, always, always on the hustle. Phillips also covered, among other events, the Olympics, the World Series, the Super Bowl, World Figure Skating Championships, and horse racing's Triple Crown series. He twice reported from Cuba, where he spent a fascinating three days as the only patient in the hospital. Phillips also had the opportunity to report to an anxious world the story of the World Monopoly Championship.