Butler’s Phillips First Three-Time NCAA Winner

Celebrating A Century of NCAA Track & Field Championships

Butler’s Phillips First Three-Time NCAA Winner

Name a miler who became an elite quarter-miler.

Kudos if you included Hermon Phillips, whose three 440-yard titles at the NCAA Championships from 1925-27 made him the meet’s first three-time winner in any event. 

Phillips was a four-time Indiana high school state mile champion from Rushville, who entered Butler University in nearby Indianapolis. He had also won the 1923 national interscholastic mile in a meet record 4:30.6. 

To say Phillips made an immediate impact for the Bulldogs would be an understatement. As a freshman in 1924, he defeated seven-time national AAU mile champ Joie Ray in an indoor 880-yard race and was named captain of the Butler track & field team for his efforts.

By 1925, Phillips displayed the range that made him a feared prep athlete as a 14-year-old, where he would be older runners in almost any event. At the Drake Relays that year, Phillips was part of three Bulldog relay teams that set meet records and then became the program’s first NCAA champion by winning the 440, about an hour before teammate Glen Gray won the 220. 

Phillips continued his winning ways at the NCAA Championships in 1926 and 1927 with record-setting performances. In the former, Phillips clocked a time of 48.7, bettering the meet record of 49.0 set by Olympian Frank Shea of Pittsburgh in the inaugural NCAA Championships in 1921. The following year, Phillips lowered his meet record to 48.5 to win his third-straight crown.

Only Morgan State’s George Rhoden (1950-52) and UTEP’s Bert Cameron (1980-81, 1983) have as many NCAA wins as Phillips among men in the 400/440. 

Phillips made the 1928 Olympic team, finishing sixth after equaling the world record of 47.4 earlier in the year. Upon his return from the Olympics, Butler hired Phillips to be its new coach. During his 19-year tenure, he coached Butler’s only other men’s NCAA track & field champions (besides him and Gray) – Joe Sivak in the 1930 mile and Bert Nelson in the 1932 high jump.

posted: September 5, 2020
1921-2021
The NCAA's First Championships

The NCAA and collegiate track & field will mark a momentous milestone in the spring of 2021 -- the 100th anniversary of the NCAA Championships and with that, the NCAA Track & Field Championships. In June 1921, the University of Chicago hosted the first track & field championships in NCAA history.

This point can’t be emphasized enough: Not only was the event the first for NCAA track & field, but the first championships for any sport under the sponsorship of the NCAA.

To celebrate, over each of the next 365 days, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) will celebrate moments, student-athletes, and coaches that have made a century’s worth of championships special. From humble beginnings to important historical milestones to the modern-day, collegiate track & field has evolved with the American society.

The 2021 edition of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin with preliminary round action on May 27-29 in Jacksonville, Fla., and College Station, Texas. The championships final site and culmination of the celebration is slated for June 9-12, 2021 at the newly rebuilt Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Memorable Moments
Reese Left Her Mark On NCAA LJ
June 12, 2008

Brittney Reese won the long jump at the 2008 NCAA DI Outdoor T&F Championships with a mark of 6.93m (22-9). Reese missed the meet record by just 1cm (½ inch).

Tupuritis Shocked The Field In 1996
May 31, 1996

Einars Tupuritis won the 800 at the 1996 NCAA DI Outdoor T&F Championships by 0.14 seconds! Turpiritis crossed the finish line in 1:45.08.

Ellis Sent USC To A Thrilling Victory
June 9, 2018

Kendall Ellis had a remarkable come-from-behind victory in the 4×400 relay at the 2018 NCAA DI Outdoor T&F Championships that sent Southern California to the meet title.