12/21/24
April 14, 2015
Ex-NFL Running Back Suspected of Killing Cellmate: Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips is suspected of killing his cellmate in a Central California prison, officials said. Damion Soward, Phillips' cellmate at Kern Valley State Prison, was found lifeless early Saturday and later pronounced dead. A former Nebraska standout drafted sixth overall in 1996 by the St. Louis Rams, Phillips is serving a sentence of more than 31 years after being convicted of twice choking his girlfriend in 2005 in San Diego and later that year of driving his car into three teens after a pickup football game in Los Angeles. Soward, 37, was serving 82 years to life for first-degree murder.
Phillips is on my all-time "I wish he had played for Buddy Ryan (and so does Kevin Gilbride)" list.
The sanctification of Tom Osborne by Nebraska fans and the media began in earnest when Osborne was crafting the final phase of his coaching career in a blaze of glory, and the handling of Phillips provided a noteworthy counterpoint to the chorus of hosannas. Osborne is fortunate that he didn't have the internet looking over his shoulder as he declined to dismiss Phillips from the team and forestalled his court dates so he could play in big games.
The presence of players like Phillips at Nebraska also countered the well worn theme that Switzer had run the equivalent of a minimum security pre-release program at Oklahoma, while Osborne had been the good guy who couldn't win the big game.
posted by beaverboard at 12:30 PM on April 14, 2015
What a total train-wreck of a human being.