On Saturday evening, the Russellville IndependentSchool District will name the gym floor in Jim Young Gymnasium, honoring former Panther player, coach and administrator Phil Todd.
Also, RHS will recognize the school’s last State Tournament team, the 2001 Fourth Regional Champions and Sweet Sixteen Final Four participant, coached by Todd. Many of them played, too, on the 2000 team, which also reached the Final Four.
“If you were a classmate, teammate, player, friend, student or colleague of Coach Todd, please come out and share this special night with him and his family,” says Greg Owens, who heads athletic alumni activities for the school.
The Lady Panthers and Panthers will take on district opponent Todd County Central. The Rebels are champions of the Fourth Region All A Classic, awaiting a game against West Carter at state. These teams played each other Wednesday, with the Lady Panthers and Rebels winning district games at Elkton.
The court naming ceremony is scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. If the games had been played as schedule Friday, the ceremony would have been broadcast live on WRUS. The radio station planned to go back and forth between the RHS and Logan County High School gymnasiums the rest of the evening, since the Lady Cougars and Cougars were to be playing district games against Franklin-Simpson. The Logan games now are to begin at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Phil Todd was an outstanding three-sport athlete at RHS, graduating in 1975. His defense was a key in helping Coach Mickey Meguiar’s basketball Panthers win three straight district championships after the school had gone 12 years since their last title. He was also a tight end and an intimidating defender for Coach Wayne Shoemaker’s football Panthers, and he started throughout high school in baseball.
In News-Democrat polls, he was Player of the Decade of the 70s for RHS and runner-up for Basketball Player of the Decade with the five Logan County schools included. He was an All-OVC football players at Austin Peay.
Todd has been an assistant football coach for RHS under coaches Ken Barrett, Bob Nelson and John Meyers.
He became head coach of Panther basketball in 1990 and stayed in that role through the 2004 season. Those teams reached five regional finals, winning three. After retiring from teaching, he was out of basketball coaching for eight seasons, returning to the Panther bench in the fall of 2012.
His last team in 2016-17 reached his sixth regional finals before losing in the championship game to a Bowling Green team which won the state championship four games later.
In 14 of his 20 seasons at the helm, Todd’s Panthers won 10 district championships and were runner-up four other years. He missed going to region only six times.
He taught his players a lot about basketball. Two of his 1992 regional finalists became college and pro players.
Charles ‘Bubba’ Wells was the unofficial top scorer in Division I basketball as a senior while playing for Austin Peay. He couldn’t win the title because he had to sit out too many games after having a second metal rod surgically implanted into his legs. He was the number two draft choice of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. He also was a member of the Chicago Bulls. After playing for the Harlem Globetrotters’ competitive team, he became a college coach and continues in that role.
His classmate, Otis Key, was a starter with him at Peay for three seasons before transferring to Lincoln University where he was able to show his offensive skills as well as the defense and rebounding he was known for. That earned him a professional contract in European basketball. He was such a star in the Canary Islands that a candy bar was named for him.
Key played several years for the Globetrotters’ show team, entertaining large crowds all over the world. He became their front man, going to host cities a few days before the team, making public appearances and being interviewed by newspapers along with TV and radio stations. He later went into coaching and served as head women’s coach at Vol State Community College. He also has a business helping young athletes succeed.
A third one of Coach Todd’s Panther stars who had an excellent college and pro career was 2002 graduate Maurice ‘Squeaky’ Hampton. He was a starter on both those Final Four teams. He had an excellent career at Austin Peay and then was a star of international basketball in many countries and even multiple continents. He now is a businessman in Nashville and helps guide youngsters in the right direction, often in Russellville.
The star of Todd’s last team in 2017, DeAndre ‘Pedro Bradshaw, was a finalist for Mr. Kentucky Basketball. He was on teams at Belmont University and Eastern Kentucky University before transferring to Bellarmine University in Louisville. In his first year the Knights were one of the highest ranked teams in NCAA Division II basketball. Last year he was the star of their first Division I team, which had an excellent season. He was highly honored.
Bradshaw decided to forego another year of eligibility this season and entered into the NBA Draft portal. He wasn’t drafted but he has played for three teams in the NBA’s G League, the equivalent of AAA baseball.
Several other of Todd’s players have been part of semi-pro ball, including a league championship team. One of his Final Four starters, Nathan Thompson, coached semi-pro ball to championships and is now head coach of the Loga County Cougars.
Todd, who also has been the RHS Athletic Director and has also coached track and baseball, is retired again. He is married to Dr. Jenny Brown Todd and they have a young daughter. His older sons, Marquis and Tyree, played for him.
This is the fourth playing area Russellville High School has named for a coach. Ken Barrett Field is part of Rhea Stadium. The track and field facility is named for the late Matt Tipton.
The Russellville gymnasium honors former superintendent and boys basketball coach Jim Young, who coached the 1961 Panthers to the Regional Finals. He was also the superintendent who hired Phil Todd to be head basketball coach 30 years later.
The RHS baseball field is named for Kelly Russell, who died from a baseball injury in 1974.
Former coaches Buddy Linton, Howard Wren, Mickey Meguiar and Wayne Mullen have annual playing dates named for them, and a girls basketball event is named for late player Ashley “Coco” Kees.
Phil Todd is the only member of the Russellville Alumni Club Athletic Hall of Fame to have been enshrined twice, both as a player and as a coach.