Pike did step up with $5K. Let’s all pitch in
Phil Sellers gofundme
- Thread starter Fat Koko
- Start date
Noted that on the other thread, and by all means keep it going!
I’d like to thank everyone for the outpouring of support for Phil, my old friend from Rutgers days. I’d especially like to thank Steve Politi for his feature article (link below) about Phil’s journey and his current health problems. Also, please note that Coach Pikiell (and his wife) have been very generous in their support of the GoFundMe Campaign. One final shout out…the Rutgers staff has been very supportive in helping to get the word out on the GFM campaign.
As this group knows, Phil was the real deal and put Rutgers sports on the map. I thank everyone who has contributed, those who have helped to spread the word about the GFM campaign and ask everyone to consider a donation (no matter how small).
Phil Sellers lifted Rutgers hoops to new heights. Now, he needs help | Politi
https://www.nj.com/rutgersbasketbal...-to-new-heights-now-he-needs-help-politi.html
As this group knows, Phil was the real deal and put Rutgers sports on the map. I thank everyone who has contributed, those who have helped to spread the word about the GFM campaign and ask everyone to consider a donation (no matter how small).
Phil Sellers lifted Rutgers hoops to new heights. Now, he needs help | Politi
https://www.nj.com/rutgersbasketbal...-to-new-heights-now-he-needs-help-politi.html
Dick absolutely stepped up and has been very generous, despite his recent health set back. But he’s not “the biggest contributor by far.”
Let‘s all pray for a speedy recovery for the one and only Dickie V.
He was when he donated
Phil was, indeed, the ultimate real deal. I went to my first Rutgers B-ball game live second semester in 1973. Our last game was set up to be a play-in game for the NIT. The Barn was rocking. We sat at the end of the court. We had some really good plyers like Gene Armstead and John Somogyi. About 4-5 minutes into the game, Phil came roaring down the baseline to follow up somebody's missed shot...whoa!!!! You could see the difference between Phil and Gene...and any of the big's PSU had on the floor. PHIL WAS A FRESHMAN!!! Everyone else looked like they were glued to the floor! A friend and I looked at each other and said, "Welcome to The Barn, Penn State....you're not in Kansas anymore lol". We romped. With a couple minutes left in the game, the cheerleaders ran out and spelled out N-I-T laying on the floor. The place went nuts...I was hooked, too. Phil could be electrifying and was/is unforgettable. Easy decision to donate, for sure. Let's all help out with Phil's issues. Think I will do so and donate again this morning. Thank you for all the memories and get better, Phil! Go RU!!
Noticed Mike Rice was even on there.
Hope we can get to 150. Would be a nice story how the fans rallied in support of one of our own.
In fairness, it’s already been pretty impressive to get almost 70% there in only a few days.
And. Bump.
I’m guessing 2.9% is what they need to give to credit card companies for those who donate that way. They also asked if I wanted to give them an add tip.
Yes, based on past experience I think that’s how it works. They don’t show the fee on the publicly donated amount.
Just donated. He is the highest ranked recruit to ever come here right?
Yes. There were no star rankings back then, but he was a consensus top 25 player in the country when he committed to RU. He was originally going to attend Notre Dame.
Good article here from 1983...
https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/18/sports/phil-sellers-remembers-a-better-time.html
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There were probably not a million ratings back then but Phil Sellers was a Street @ Smith's AA, Parade HS All America and Dapper Dan Basketball All-Star Game MVP. First time I ever read the phrase "a man among boys" was in an article about Phil in the Dapper Dan All Star game.
Found this on THE All Star game that Phil played in after his senior year in HS in front of 13,000 fans....hope the link works (never a given with me lol):
en.wikipedia.org
The Roundball Classic, originally known as The Dapper Dan Roundball Classic (also known as Magic Johnson's Roundball, Sonny Vaccaro's Roundball Classic, EA Sports Roundball Classic, Asics Roundball Classic) is well known in the sports world as the first national high school All Star basketball game.[1][2][3] It was sponsored by and used as a fundraising event for the Dapper Dan Charities in Pittsburgh. The inaugural game was played at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 26, 1965.
After the game two MVPs were named: one for the Pennsylvania team and one for the U.S. team. In 1979 and 1986 three U.S. selections played (East, Midwest and Southwest in 1979; East, South and North in 1986).[71][54]
Go Phil! Go RU!
Found this on THE All Star game that Phil played in after his senior year in HS in front of 13,000 fans....hope the link works (never a given with me lol):
en.wikipedia.org
The Roundball Classic, originally known as The Dapper Dan Roundball Classic (also known as Magic Johnson's Roundball, Sonny Vaccaro's Roundball Classic, EA Sports Roundball Classic, Asics Roundball Classic) is well known in the sports world as the first national high school All Star basketball game.[1][2][3] It was sponsored by and used as a fundraising event for the Dapper Dan Charities in Pittsburgh. The inaugural game was played at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 26, 1965.
| 1972 | U.S. 97, Pennsylvania 88 | 13,207[35] |
After the game two MVPs were named: one for the Pennsylvania team and one for the U.S. team. In 1979 and 1986 three U.S. selections played (East, Midwest and Southwest in 1979; East, South and North in 1986).[71][54]
Year | Team | Player | High School (state) |
| 1965 | Pennsylvania | Simmie Hill | Midland |
| United States | Bernie Williams | DeMatha Catholic (MD) | |
| 1966 | Pennsylvania | Sam Iacino | Farrell |
| United States | Calvin Murphy | Norwalk (CT) | |
| 1967 | Pennsylvania | Dick DeVenzio | Ambridge |
| United States | Jim McDaniels | Allen County (KY) | |
| 1968 | Pennsylvania | Dennis Wuycik | Ambridge |
| United States | Tom Riker | Saint Dominic (NY) | |
| 1969 | Pennsylvania | Mark Gianfrancesco | Wilkinsburg |
| United States | Nick Weatherspoon | Canton McKinley (OH) | |
| 1970 | Pennsylvania | Tom McMillen | Mansfield |
| United States | Dwight Jones | Wheatley (TX) | |
| 1971 | Pennsylvania | Jimmie Baker | Olney |
| United States | Campy Russell | Pontiac Central (MI) | |
| 1972 | Pennsylvania | Joe Bryant | John Bartram |
| United States | Phil Sellers | Thomas Jefferson (NY) |
Go Phil! Go RU!
Nice to see The Thrill share MVP honors with Jellybean (Joe Bryant, Kobe's dad)!
Loved watching Phil and the team while I was a med student at Rutgers. God bless you Phil.
Vitale cut him because Sellers was the classic tweener: too small to be an NBA forward and couldn't shoot and handle the ball well enough to be a guard.
Great response showing the difference between being a outstanding college player and lacking the size and skillset for the NBA .
This was, unfortunately, true. But, there was also a confidence issue that reared its ugly head at the end of Phil's time on The Banks. From a NY Times article:
It was a confidence bordering on arrogance that made Sellers so compelling a figure on the court. But when he was confronted for the first time with his own limitations in the 1976 National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, that confidence began eroding. Three years later, when Vitale invited Sellers to his Detroit Pistons tryout camp, he saw none of the conceit that had so impressed him when he had first watched other high school players back away from Sellers and college coaches line gymnasium walls to see him play. After the camp's final day, he called Sellers into his office and told him, ''It's over.''
''Maybe it was made up; maybe it never was,'' Sellers said of the confidence that allowed him to impose himself on a game. ''Maybe it wasn't meant for me to make it in the pros. I thought I could adjust. This was playing with professionals, and I was in their environment. I just didn't have control of the situation. It wasn't Phil Sellers' show anymore.''
THAT, however, was not the real Phil Sellers. This was the real Phil Sellers:
Early lilt. V. P. Vote Skips Scarlet Star - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
GO PHIL! GO Scarlet Nation! GO RU!
Abdel Anderson, a teammate of Phil's at the Final Four is on board. Sue Wicks, one of the few players who might be considered as valuable as Sellers to the RUTGERS 
program, contributed as well
A number of names from the 1970's are also listed as anonymous on the list.
program, contributed as well A number of names from the 1970's are also listed as anonymous on the list.
Please give. Anonymous as I did or public.Abdel Anderson, a teammate of Phil's at the Final Four is on board. Sue Wicks, one of the few players who might be considered as valuable as Sellers to the RUTGERS
A number of names from the 1970's are also listed as anonymous on the list.
And please share in your networks
It is quite a trip down memory lane. When Phil is fully recovered, I hope he finds this out and it does his heart good to see that. GO Phil! Go RU!Abdel Anderson, a teammate of Phil's at the Final Four is on board. Sue Wicks, one of the few players who might be considered as valuable as Sellers to the RUTGERS
A number of names from the 1970's are also listed as anonymous on the list.
Phil was an All American at same time I believe as Adrian Dantley. Would have been at ND at same time.
Yup, I believe you're right! As a matter of fact, Dantley was the Dapper Dan All-Star Game U.S. Team MVP in 1973, the year after Phil was the U.S. Team MVP. Would have been interesting to see if they could have played well together. If so, they would have been a very good rebounding team despite their lack of height at the forward spots. Both could hit the boards! Go RU! Go Phil!
Mike Francesa still has nightmares about Phil Sellers in that ECAC game against the Johnnies.
I always thought Francesa's bug-up-his-butt attitude toward us stemmed partly from RU shutting out his Johnnies in '75 and '76. Pretty sure Mike is my age, so those would have been his junior and senior years. Phil & Co. went 3-0 those last 2 years and beat them in the ECAC tournament both years. I still remember disliking Frankie Alagia from SJU for some strange reason lol. GO RU! Go Phil Phorever!! BTW, we're just short of $100,000 in the donations this evening. Hope we can go by $100k tonight and get the $150k goal this week...that would be so great to help him and his family!
Bump. We reached 100K overnight! Please continue to help if you can. And, as Loyal_2RU said above, please share in your networks. This is one of the few times in my life where I regret being a bit of a hermit, not having much of a social media presence to help spread the word about Phil's issues. I wish I was a whiz at social media like so many of you folks are on this board! Go Scarlet Nation! Go RU! Go Phil!
We reached $101,245 in donations last night!!!
I came across this quote in an old Phil article:
“When he was 14, playing in a junior high school basketball clinic, Sellers and the other players were asked to dribble to the basket and shoot layups. He dunked the ball, recalled Jerry Wichern, his coach at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn. Sellers, as a freshman, was 6 feet tall and placed on the varsity.”
Just think, Phil and the Rutgers 76’ers might have been the Doctors of Dunk before Louisville’s team...if that Rutgers team just had not had the misfortune of playing all 4 years under the dunk ban! The Barn would have lost more than paint chips if those teams (Sellers, Bailey, Copeland, Dabney, etc.) had been allowed to dunk; the roof would have come off completely!!!
Get well soon, Phil! GO RU! GO Scarlet Nation!
I came across this quote in an old Phil article:
“When he was 14, playing in a junior high school basketball clinic, Sellers and the other players were asked to dribble to the basket and shoot layups. He dunked the ball, recalled Jerry Wichern, his coach at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn. Sellers, as a freshman, was 6 feet tall and placed on the varsity.”
Just think, Phil and the Rutgers 76’ers might have been the Doctors of Dunk before Louisville’s team...if that Rutgers team just had not had the misfortune of playing all 4 years under the dunk ban! The Barn would have lost more than paint chips if those teams (Sellers, Bailey, Copeland, Dabney, etc.) had been allowed to dunk; the roof would have come off completely!!!
Get well soon, Phil! GO RU! GO Scarlet Nation!
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We’re up to $102,775 in donations this morning!
One of the posters in the GoFundMe site posted much more eloquently than I have been able to (I hope the poster does not mind my borrowing of these words) :
“As a freshman at Rutgers College in the magical year of 1975-76, No. 12 from Brooklyn quarterbacked a great group of talented players such as "Fast" Eddie Jordan, Mike Dabney, James (King James!) Bailey, etc. They put NJ's state university on the national map and gave all us students and alumni oodles of joy and excitement. Now, struggling with health issues, it's the least I could do to help a brother out, and I hope many of you will be inspired to follow suit. I still follow Rutgers hoops (and football) loyally and hold out hope for a national title some day. But regardless, no Rutgers fan can or will ever forget a team that went undefeated, 31-0, until the Final Four that March of 1976. When they completed the regular season feat, I may or may not have been seen hanging from a window of Olde Queens, the beautiful pre-Revolutionary administrative building that is the heart of the New Brunswick campus. I can neither confirm nor deny the verity of this alleged sighting.”
Hopefully, people will find the time and wherewithal this weekend to continue to ‘help a brother out’. This one seems like a marathon, not a sprint, and we at Scarlet Nation should be used to such battles! GO RU! GO Phil!
Former Rutgers President Dr. Edward J. Bloustein, said of Sellers that he "epitomized and symbolized in ways that people who gain the public eye sometimes do, a movement at Rutgers toward quality and self-assurance. He helped instill a sense of confidence in the university that persists today."
One of the posters in the GoFundMe site posted much more eloquently than I have been able to (I hope the poster does not mind my borrowing of these words) :
“As a freshman at Rutgers College in the magical year of 1975-76, No. 12 from Brooklyn quarterbacked a great group of talented players such as "Fast" Eddie Jordan, Mike Dabney, James (King James!) Bailey, etc. They put NJ's state university on the national map and gave all us students and alumni oodles of joy and excitement. Now, struggling with health issues, it's the least I could do to help a brother out, and I hope many of you will be inspired to follow suit. I still follow Rutgers hoops (and football) loyally and hold out hope for a national title some day. But regardless, no Rutgers fan can or will ever forget a team that went undefeated, 31-0, until the Final Four that March of 1976. When they completed the regular season feat, I may or may not have been seen hanging from a window of Olde Queens, the beautiful pre-Revolutionary administrative building that is the heart of the New Brunswick campus. I can neither confirm nor deny the verity of this alleged sighting.”
Hopefully, people will find the time and wherewithal this weekend to continue to ‘help a brother out’. This one seems like a marathon, not a sprint, and we at Scarlet Nation should be used to such battles! GO RU! GO Phil!
Former Rutgers President Dr. Edward J. Bloustein, said of Sellers that he "epitomized and symbolized in ways that people who gain the public eye sometimes do, a movement at Rutgers toward quality and self-assurance. He helped instill a sense of confidence in the university that persists today."
Love to see a follow-up in the Star Ledger with another link to the site. Politi deserves credit for the original (hell I've been critical of him so I should acknowledge when he does good) and a sequel would be even better. A lot of people on this site have already given.
It looks like they won't reach their goal but they did reach 6 figures which is going to be huge for the family. Now they have some decisions to make about how to allocate the resources they have in the most effective way.
Keep it open through the early part of basketball season. There are probably some hoops fans who don't visit the site from April through October.
Well, we made it to $105, 000...for Phil, I hope we can make the $150k goal. He was much more than just numbers in a record book.
From a 1975 SI article:
As Rutgers now flirts with an unaccustomed spot in the Top 20, Sellers' efforts at self-modulation are apparent. Called for technicals, he apologizes promptly. He also has become less severe with teammates. "Now I pat them on the rear when I criticize them," he says. "I want them to know I don't mean anything personal." At a team meeting Sellers listened sheepishly as Young pointedly said, "Phil isn't the one who makes out the starting lineup around here." But the coach also says, "One of Phil's problems is that he's such a smart player. He picks on the other guys out of frustration. While they're still trying to understand what I'm talking about, he's already learned it."
Sellers' basketball sense also impresses Southern Cal Coach Bob Boyd, who attributes the Rutgers player's abrasive style partly to "outstanding gamesmanship." Specifically, Boyd has in mind Sellers' success at drawing offensive fouls, an art requiring courage, good floor position and, what can scarcely fail to interest an observer from Los Angeles, inspired acting. During the Holiday Festival games at Madison Square Garden, in which Rutgers took third behind upset winner Fordham and USC, Sellers scored 76 points and, amazingly, drew nine charging fouls in three games. In a subsequent 97-87 win over Long Island University, Sellers drew three more offensive fouls. Early in the game he warned Nate Revels, the LIU forward guarding him, "I'm going to foul you out." Then he proceeded to do exactly that.
The boasting was forgivable. Later Revels admitted that it was he who actually started the verbal sparring. One of Revels' fouls occurred when he slammed into Sellers as Sellers was driving for the basket. Stepping to the free-throw line, Sellers grinned hugely. Significantly, he was looking at Revels, not at the referee. As the Scarlet Knights' does-it-all forward says, "I'm starting to realize it's not smart to make the refs look bad." Maybe he has things more under control than it appears.
Go Phil! GO SCARLET NATION!!!! USC Coach Boyd was a pretty big fan of Phil's...he'd contribute a few bucks for Phil, I think, if he was still here! He was a really, really good coach.
We’re up to $106,134 in the fund site for Phil today. One of the recent donors listed is Eugene Armstead...if it’s who I think it is, that donation comes from the starting senior center on Phil’s freshman RU squad...that would be very cool.
I went looking for an update on Phil’s health. I could only come up with this article. Hopefully, the link works:
Phil Sellers’ biggest battle: Not on the court (brooklyneagle.com)
To many fans, especially younger fans, Phil is a mountain of statistics. He was, however, much more than that. He was the first and most transcendent ‘bigtime’ recruit ever at RU in a major sport. No player has ever paid more dividends for a program for which they played. He did not build his statistics only against soft opponents. His sophomore year, he scored 32 points against Syracuse and 43 points against Southern Cal. I could never find the article again but the USC coach said, pretty much, that he was glad the Trojans didn’t have to see Sellers very often. In his junior year, two of his best games were again against ranked USC (32 points) and ranked Syracuse (I believe a double-double, like 20 & 12) in an RU win at Manley Fieldhouse where the Orange rarely lost. That junior year ended in an NCAA loss to Louisville, but I think Phil had 29 points in a losing cause.
In Phil’s senior year, history seems to promote a bit the thought that Phil did not always play well...and even that others on his own team were better players. NOT the case...the run in the NCAA Tournament does not even happen without Phil taking over the end of the ECAC Championship game vs. St. John’s (the “give me the ball” game).
In August, we can hit the $150,000 fundraising goal! Go Scarlet Nation! GO PHIL! Go RU!
I went looking for an update on Phil’s health. I could only come up with this article. Hopefully, the link works:
Phil Sellers’ biggest battle: Not on the court (brooklyneagle.com)
To many fans, especially younger fans, Phil is a mountain of statistics. He was, however, much more than that. He was the first and most transcendent ‘bigtime’ recruit ever at RU in a major sport. No player has ever paid more dividends for a program for which they played. He did not build his statistics only against soft opponents. His sophomore year, he scored 32 points against Syracuse and 43 points against Southern Cal. I could never find the article again but the USC coach said, pretty much, that he was glad the Trojans didn’t have to see Sellers very often. In his junior year, two of his best games were again against ranked USC (32 points) and ranked Syracuse (I believe a double-double, like 20 & 12) in an RU win at Manley Fieldhouse where the Orange rarely lost. That junior year ended in an NCAA loss to Louisville, but I think Phil had 29 points in a losing cause.
In Phil’s senior year, history seems to promote a bit the thought that Phil did not always play well...and even that others on his own team were better players. NOT the case...the run in the NCAA Tournament does not even happen without Phil taking over the end of the ECAC Championship game vs. St. John’s (the “give me the ball” game).
In August, we can hit the $150,000 fundraising goal! Go Scarlet Nation! GO PHIL! Go RU!
I hit another donation today in honor of my five teammates from 1977 Machine Ultimate, who are no longer around to donate.
Every bit helps Phil Sellers.
Every bit helps Phil Sellers.