In 1998, former ASU long jumper Dwight Phillips was a sophomore running the 400-meter at the University of Kentucky, but coaches there saw his talent could be better used in another event.
In 1996, on Phillips' first day of practice at Kentucky, Edrick Floréal, who was serving as an assistant coach at the time, said he "could be an Olympic medalist in the long jump," but Phillips saw himself more as a 400-meter runner.
According to Floréal, the "friction" created by those competing interests drove Phillips away from Kentucky after ASU's head coach at the time, Greg Kraft, reached out to him in the spring of 1998.
However, ASU did not provide Phillips an escape from the arguments of being a long jumper. Kraft also wanted Phillips to be a long jumper, but Phillips remained insistent on being a 400-meter runner.
Phillips said Kraft would end an argument between the two with a sharp statement: "You're going to do the long jump or go home."
Phillips stayed at ASU and became one of the world's greatest long jumpers in the early 2000s.
Phillips would arrive on campus at ASU in the fall of 1998. During the 1999 indoor season, he would finish second in the NCAA Indoor Championships for the long jump and compete in the 1999 Pac-10 Outdoor Championships.
The 1999 Pac-10 Outdoor Championships, held at Sun Angel Stadium, was a meet Phillips looks back on fondly, where a rivalry would be sparked between him and former Washington State long jumper Demetrius Murray.
Murray jumped 25 feet, 7 inches and subsequently started trash-talking, Phillips said. Phillips would take exception to the talk, given he was on his home field. "(Murray) was saying, 'This is my house, I own the long jump,' and I started to talk trash cause I go to Arizona State, we're the home team," Phillips said.
Phillips ended up jumping 26 feet, 10 inches, a Pac-10 Championship record-breaking jump that still stands today. The performance gave him confidence that he could "jump alongside anyone in the world."
"Dwight and I had a bit of a rivalry when we competed back in college," Murray said. "Seeing him accomplish what he did and knowing that we did have a little rivalry just makes you smile."
Phillips would compete in the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games for Team USA after finishing second in the U.S. Team Trials for the long jump.
Although Phillips did not medal in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, finishing in eighth place in the long jump, he would continue to use Kraft's advice and wisdom after graduating to train for the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics.
Phillips would go on to compete in the 2003 International Association of Athletics Federations indoor and outdoor world championships. Under Kraft's mentorship, he would win the long jump in both events, including a narrow win in the indoor competition by just one centimeter against Spain's Yago Lamela.
"I felt so invincible after the IAAF indoor and outdoor world championships," Phillips said. "I felt that I could win the Olympics and anything else that I put my mind to."
Kraft felt the same; he too believed Phillips was capable of winning gold at the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics, and every action the two took leading up to the games reflected that mentality. Phillips was the best track and field athlete in the world at the time, he just needed the hardware to prove it.
At the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games, Phillips would come out victorious, beating his competitor, John Moffitt with a jump of 28 feet, 2.25 inches.
However, Phillips would deal with injuries for the rest of his career. He missed the 2008 Olympics by placing fourth in the U.S. Team Trials and ruptured his Achilles tendon in 2012, ending his Olympic career.
Phillips would be inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2018, cementing his legacy in the sport.
After having "dreaded" the long jump for much of his career, Phillips credits Kraft with transforming him from a "mediocre 400-meter runner to one of the best long jumpers in the world."
"I couldn't thank my coaches enough for preparing me," Phillips said. "There were so many people who inspired me over the years to get to this point and I can now sit back and say I'm an inspiration to others to reach the same point I did."
The Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games long jump would be Phillips' one and only Olympic medal, but his legacy will inspire future Sun Devil athletes for years to come.
Reach the reporter at lhertz@asu.edu and follow @laurenrachell_ on Twitter.
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