Phil with two-time Olympic champion Katarina Witt of Germany in 2018
Phil graduated from Yale University in 1968 with a degree in early 19th-century French literature, having also pursued advanced studies in Spanish and Italian. He applied to and was accepted into law school at the University of Pennsylvania, but “hated it within minutes” and left, instead working in Yale’s Sports Information Office until he was drafted into the U.S. Army Reserve and began his year of basic training in late 1969.
The 2022 Winter Olympics, held in February in Beijing, China, would have been Phil’s 20th in-person Olympics. Due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, he instead covered the event from his home in Evanston, Ill., where he lives with his wife of 46 years, Ann Roberts, a professor emeritus in art history at Lake Forest College.
Prior to working at the Tribune, Phil worked briefly at the Beverly Times, was a sports editor at the Gloucester Daily Times from 1970 until 1972, and then covered several sports at the Baltimore Evening Sun for four and a half years. In 1977, he began covering Major League Baseball for the Chicago Daily News; when the paper merged with the Sun Times, he worked there until he left for the Tribune in 1984.
SPRING 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 31