SARVER — Volleyball hasn’t always been Tom Phillips’ passion. It only seems that way.

Phillips, 69, has been Freeport High School’s girls volleyball coach since 2001. His record with the Yellowjackets speaks for itself: 405 wins, 38 losses, 18 consecutive section titles, seven WPIAL championships, five runner-ups and two state crowns.

Those achievements are landing him in the Armstrong Sports Hall of Fame, the induction banquet taking place at 4 p.m. April 30 in Freeport’s Laube Hall.

A 1971 Freeport graduate, Phillips played basketball in high school. His passion then was dirt track racing.

“My uncle raced a car and my dad was a big influence on my own racing career,” Phillips said. “He built a race track behind our home when I was 9 and I raced cars around that track all the time. That’s how I got hooked.”

And he was pretty good.

Phillips raced at Lernerville Speedway for approximately 15 years. He raced Semi-Lates and Late Models and won four track championships, including three in a row from 1986-88. He wound up winning well over 100 features.

“I built my own car when I was 17,” Phillips said. “I mean, racing was my knife back then. It’s all I cared about. I ran the first Corvette in a race at Lernerville. I raced at Motordrome, Marion Center, Latrobe ... but when my father passed away, some of my passion for the sport went with him. Then I got married and drifted away from the sport.”

And drifted toward volleyball.

Phillips started playing coed volleyball with his wife when he was well into his 30s and became infatuated with the game.

“We played three or four nights a week,” he said. “We got into beach volleyball so much that I put a sand court in at my house. I became regional director of the Association of Volleyball Professionals ... Some of the best players in the region wound up playing on the court at our home.”

Phillips put on volleyball clinics and ran 17 tournaments at his home in the span of a year.

A friend of his, Ike Isenberg, was principal of Freeport Middle School and told him he should consider coaching the high school girls team.

“JK started going to some games and had no desire to coach high school girls,” he admitted. “Then the position opened up and Ike made me promise that if he got me an interview, I would go. I agreed.

“Next thing I knew, I was Freeport’s girls volleyball coach.”

He admitted it was rough at the beginning, getting the girls to buy into the fundamentals he was trying to teach them.

“Up until then, they were playing backyard volleyball, basically,” Phillips said. “We had eight seniors and I felt I had to be fair to those girls and try to get things turned around quickly.

“That first year, Ford City was really good. We played them the first time and got crushed, 3-0. By the time we played them the second time, we were so improved and we beat them, 3-0. I think that’s what sold my system on the girls. We made the playoffs that first year.”

The Yellowjackets haven’t missed the WPIAL playoffs since. They claimed PIAA championships in 2017 and 2022.

“When I was a young kid, racing was in my blood,” Phillips said. “I remember the thrill of winning my first race. But nothing compares to the feeling of winning a state championship as a coach.

“So many things have to go right for that to happen. You have to have the players. You have to get some luck. You have to stay healthy. And you have to have a team hungry and motivated enough to succeed through that long of a season.”

His wife, Jamie, has been alongside him all the way.

“She’s been a junior varsity coach, a volunteer coach, scorekeeper, announcer ... Whatever we need, she’ been there to fill that void,” Phillips said. “Her contributions and dedication to it have added to my joy of coaching.

“She asked if I wanted to retire after we won the state last year, go out on top. But I made a vow to myself when I took this job. As long as I’m having fun, I’ll keep doing it.

“I’m still having fun,” he added.

Tickets for the banquet are available by calling Dennis Wolfe at 724-882-3557. Phillips is one of 11 inductees this year. Freeport seniors Brady Stivenson and Ava Soilis are among 10 high school students being recognized that night as well.

Phillips is also being inducted into the Alle-Kiski Sports Hall of Fame on May 20.