Entrepreneur, philanthropist and community activist Ralph Phillips was immortalized Friday evening with the unveiling of a six-foot statue at the main entrance of North Central State College’s (NCSC) Kehoe Center in Shelby.
Phillips, who died from a motorcycle accident in 2009, was instrumental in helping Shelby become a college town. “This college was his vision for Shelby to be a place to grow, thrive and succeed,” part of the inscription on the base of the statue reads. “He was a true friend to all and to this city. Here his legacy lives on.”
Phillips was a well-known Shelby businessman. He was the owner of Shelby Welded Tube Company, R. H. Phillips Trucking, Carefree Estates and Storage, R. H. Phillips Farms, R. H. Phillips Equipment and Leasing, Middletown Tube Works in Middletown, Ohio and Dothan Tubular Products in Dothan, Alabama.
After the formal unveiling and dedication of the bronze statue, family members, government officials, friends and guests gathered on the third floor of the building for a reception in the Ralph Phillips Conference Center.
“This [the building] used to be the Shelby Mutual Insurance company,” said Angela Phillips, daughter of Ralph Phillips. “So, in 1999, the then [Norht Cenral State] president Ron Abrams convinced him to put a bid in on that building and help them buy it. It had been on the market for about four years at a really, really high price and he made an offer on it and they ended up taking his offer. He held the college for over a year until they could raise the money for it. He then also donated part of that amount to lower the price for the college and kind of help them get established here at the (James A.) Kehoe Center.”
Angela Phillips said Bob Hanline from RS Hanline & Company, a Shelby-based fresh produce supplier, was a major supporter of the statue.
“His friends had talked about putting a statue up because he had been such a big community person,” she said. “They felt like he needed to have that but we just couldn’t get the funds together for that. Then, they did the conference center and we were advertising for people to contribute to the conference center and Bob Hanline put up the majority of the money for the statue.
“He said, ‘Hey here’s my contribution but there’s going to be a statue of Ralph Phillips at the college.’ So he’s the one that made it happen.”
The life-sized statue was made by Michigan artist Janice Trimpe. The 71-year-old sculptor is known for her work on commissioned, large, out-door monuments and memorials and is the leading sculpture in Michigan. Trimpe visited Shelby in February, Phillips said, to start her work of capturing the essence of who Ralph Phillips was – which included his cigar, hat, and boots, a trademark to those who knew him.
Trimpe finished her work at the end of June and then the statue went to the bronze castor at the Fine Arts Sculpting Centre in Clarkston, Michigan.
“It was a very lengthy process of about eight to nine months to make that happen and she has did a fantastic job,” Phillips said. “Most people are like (the statue) is almost unreal. It looks so real, like he could just come down.”
The Ralph Phillips conference center was a $1.2 million campaign which came to fruition by the coordinated efforts of past NCSC Presidents Ron Abrams and Don Plotts and current president Dory Diab, said Betty Preston, Vice President for Institutional Advancement/ Chief Public Affairs Officer for the college.
Diab addressed the crowd and described the occasion as “standing on the shoulders of giants.
“What makes Ralph a giant is that he believed before he could see,” he said. “He believed in bringing higher education to Shelby.”
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After graduating from High School in 1962, Ralph Phillips went to work for Fisher Body, Inc, (General Motors) in Mansfield (now General Motors) as a Tool and Die apprentice. In 1967, he completed his apprenticeship and began his own Machine Shop in Shelby. He was forced to shut down Phillips Machine and Welding in 1968 when as an Army Reservist, he was called for active duty. Upon returning, he reopened Phillips Machine and Welding and continued in the Tool and Die business.
Phillips acquired the Barker Tower Company in 1974, a steel fabricator for the TV antenna tower business. He had six employees at this time. In 1985, he purchased the assets of Hedstrom Industries in Dothan, Alabama, and began the Dothan Tubular Products division, making steel tube for the Agriculture, Recreational vehicles and many other industries. Then in 1993, Phillips purchased the steel tubing division of Armco Steel LLP in Middletown, Ohio, naming it Middletown Tube Works, Inc. This new division catapulted the Phillips Companies into the much larger automotive and appliance marketplace.
Annual sales for all of the Phillips Family of Companies exceeded $60 million, with over 180 employees.
Ralph Phillips continued to lead his companies in the new millennium as they expanded into new markets and maintained operations at all three locations, until his untimely death September 8, 2009 due to injuries from a motorcycle accident.
As a member of the Shelby Rotary Club held a number of offices and maintained 22 years of perfect attendance. He sat on the following boards of directors: Shelby Chamber of Commerce, Shelby Foundation, Richland County Foundation, North Central State Foundation, REDEC, Community Improvement Corp., Kehoe Center and Pioneer Career and Technology Center. He was also a member of the Shelby YMCA Benefactor Club.
