My first encounter with Conley Phipps, Sr. was way back in 1979: I was a reserve on the Tulsa Memorial High School basketball team, and we played Cleveland High School in a preseason scrimmage.
Cleveland had a tall, skinny kid who seemed to shoot - and score - every time he crossed half court, and his head coach spent the entire game encouraging him to do so.
"That kid" was ORU assistant coach Conley Phipps, Jr., and the head coach was his dad, Conley, Sr.
And they proved to be quite the combination, as Conley, Jr. broke all kinds of scoring records before signing with OU and finishing his playing career at Northeastern State in Tahlequah.
Now, I don't know it for a fact, but I'm willing to bet that Conley, Sr, was there for all or most of his son's college games.
Because, as we all know, he was there for virtually EVERY game his son ever coached once his playing career was over.
"Conley Senior" has been an institution at ORU games for over a decade, and you always knew you could count on seeing him sitting right behind the bench whenever you were on the road with the Golden Eagles.
A part of the fabric of ORU men's basketball is now gone, and I know I will think of it every time I happen to catch a Golden Eagle game on the road and he is not there.
Just won't be the same...