Rebel Hero: A Captain’s Tale

Phillips and wife, Andrea, meet Pres. Obama (May 2009)

Is Captain Richard Phillips an intrepid and courageous American, as proclaimed by President Obama in 2009? Or is he a reckless and irresponsible mariner, as many of his crew allege?  And, can these questions be addressed by looking at his early life?

When I called Mrs. Virginia Phillips at her home in Florida earlier this year, she was tentative, but soon warmed up to talking about her son.  Captain Phillips is back in the spotlight because renowned thespian Tom Hanks produced and starred in the title role of the movie, Captain Phillips.  As you may already know, Phillips captained the MV Maersk Alabama when it was overtaken by pirates on April 8^th, 2009 in the Gulf of Aden.  Using cunning and ingenuity, the captain and his crew took back their ship.  Phillips was captured and held on a lifeboat anchored a hundred yards from his mothership.  A stand-off ensued; and when he attempted to escape, the pirates almost fatally shot him.  Through incredible perseverance, he survived until he was rescued by the U.S. Navy on day five of his ordeal.  Richard Phillips became a hero.  President Obama echoed this sentiment, “I share the country’s admiration for the bravery of Captain Phillips and his selfless concern for his crew…His courage is a model for all.”

Tom Hanks as Richard Phillips in “Captain Phillips” (2013)

Mrs. Phillips enthusiastically described the movie as “a high adventure,” but it has its share of controversy.  First is the lack of recognition for the Navy commander of the rescue team:  A double minority, Michelle Howard would be a compelling heroine in any story, but was ignored in both Phillips’ memoir and the movie.  The larger dispute has to do with nine crew members’ contention that Phillips exposed them to danger, which he vehemently denies.  According to their lawsuit against his employer, Maersk Line and Waterman Steamship Corp, Phillips deliberately ignored several pirate warnings.  NJ Newsday informs us the suit charges that, as Maersk and Waterman’s agent, Phillips was negligent: They “’had begged Phillips not to go so close,’ ‘He told them he wouldn’t let pirates scare him or force him to sail away from the coast’.”  In a statement to ABC News, crewman Sagba asserts that at only 240 miles out, instead of the recommended 600 miles, “Phillips did not follow orders, the ship was attacked and he was responsible.”  Indeed, Chief Engineer Mike Perry says, “He’s not a hero — he’s a villain.”

Phillips’ mother dismissed these accusations against her son as pure “jealousy and greed.” However, she deferred praise for having raised a hero, saying it was all his father’s influence: “Rich emulated his father.  James was strong, intense and believed in hard work.” Yet in A Captain’s Duty, Richard extols his mom as “the proverbial glue that kept the family together…she kept the family balanced.”  I asked Virginia what life was like in their house on Wilson Street in Winchester, MA.  She painted a picture of a modest household with shared chores and a strict father.  “He was tough on the kids,” she said ruefully, “but that was just the way it was back then.”  Richard himself remembers his father as a person who “didn’t smother you with affection.”  He jokes that living with James was “like growing up with Vince Lombardi in a bad mood.”

Rich Phillips Winchester High School yearbook (1973)

The Phillipses had eight children, divided equally by gender. Both taught; she, grade school, and he the local high school Rich attended — Business and Math while coaching basketball and football.  Rich, an indifferent student, “[lurked] at the bottom of the class.”  But the family’s codes of hard work and education were etched into the children from early on.  Fights between the boys were resolved by their father, while Rich turned to his mom when he needed help with a problem or a warm hug.  She taught them to love reading; his father taught them to “Do it right, do it once or not do it at all.”  Though his father never coached him, sports were “the biggest thing” to him growing up.  He gave up football to play the saxophone, (his mom proudly confirms he still plays) because he resented the discipline required.  In spite of this, Phillips attributes sports to how he turned out, “I learned about life, about leaders and followers, by playing sports.  Hell, I learned everything by playing sports.”  Fiercely competitive, he and his brothers were always challenging each other. “I wanted to beat them at games just as much as they wanted to beat me.  You competed among your friends, your street competed against the next street, and your school lived or died by who won the game.”

Captain Richard Phillips (April 2010)

Back in the ’60s and ’70s, Irish neighborhoods in Boston had a reputation for teenage brawling, where boys (especially) were constantly challenged to be rough and tough.  Richard and his brothers were no exception.  Their mom recalls an easy, independent infant, who “did his own thing in his own laidback way;” growing into an adventurous, strong-minded teen.  Accordingly, Richard admits he was something of a rambunctious wise-guy, prone to rebellion.  Most evenings ended with him and his friends in fights or being thrown out of bars for carousing.

Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Buzzards Bay, MA

Richard’s boisterous lifestyle resulted in his dropping out of college.  He spent a few months driving a cab until two chance encounters with merchant marines, plus a recommendation from his brother, Michael, propelled him toward the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.  He describes “a year of constant hazing” in an institution where discipline and regimentation were required at all times.  Richard remembers “It’s a true blue military school, where they broke you down before they build you into a merchant marine.”  Of the 350 entrants who started with Phillips, only 180 men graduated.  He succeeded because, “I was tough, I was a hard worker, and I knew how to learn.” Mrs. Phillips concedes that he came into his own at the MMA.  He was ready – for life as an adult, and for life on the high seas.

Family After Rescue (Virginia Phillips at far left) April 2009

Before she signed off, I asked Mrs. Phillips how she coped during his capture:  She told me all she had were her faith, prayers and her belief that if anyone could emerge from this, it would be Rich.  It was her confidence in her son’s character and training that kept her hopeful.  According to The Guardian, she was “…sure it’s going to be OK. I know my son. He’s a survivor.”  He himself said in his book’s introduction:  “I should have told the pirates:  I’m too stubborn to die that easily. You’re going to have to try harder.”  Satisfied that she’d shared just enough with me, Mrs. Phillips had a smile in her voice as she said goodbye.

Alas, I was left with still more questions than answers.  My conversations with Mrs. Phillips were shorter than my usual interviews, so I have drawn much of my material from Captain Phillip’s memoir; which confirmed Mrs. Phillips anecdotal musings, but also illuminates a more complicated persona. Flouting authority appears to be an innate part of Richard’s personality:  He “was known for being someone who didn’t back down from a fight;” and seems to think “The need to wander [as a mariner] and the need to rebel go hand in hand.”   In the book, Phillips come across as oft time confrontational, always pig-headed, inherently defiant, intensely competitive:  Similarly, crew members separately describe him as arrogant, negligent, stubborn and difficult.

MV Maersk Alabama (April 2009)

It may be that Phillip’s primary learning environments helped to produce the Captain Phillips these sailors describe:  We know his dad never verbalized his love for him; we know he grew up in a neighborhood that spurs competitiveness; and we know his coming of age involved uncompromising militaristic training.  Could these factors, coupled with an already intense personality, have sharpened his caustic independence to a perversely dangerous point?  Many could argue that such dysfunctional conditions precipitated Phillips’ fateful pirate encounter.

On the other hand, one could also make a strong case that these very same circumstances fostered a hard worker with determination, leadership skills, a strong personality, self-confidence, and fearlessness. These, too, are all qualities for which Richard is known — he is “meticulous and highly competent,” as The New York Times learned.  One does not, after all, become captain of a 17,000-ton cargo ship without having proved one’s mettle. Shashank Bengali of Mcclatchy Newspapers reported at the time, “Phillips wasn’t the easiest man to work for; “He’s in charge, and he wants you to know he’s in charge,” said Ken Quinn, a crew member. His weekly, taskmaster-style drills, however, probably saved them all.”

Personally, it is hard not to see Captain Phillips as a hero. He did survive five harrowing days as a captive.  And it was under his shrewd command that the crew reclaimed the Alabama.  (This is probably the only such successful case in modern history.)  Things could have ended tragically different had Phillips not exercised his take-charge, fight-back attitude.  What do you think?  Is Captain Phillips a hero or a villain?  And how do you think his upbringing figures into this?

NY GIANTS’ NO. 92 GOES LIVE WITH KELLY AND MICHAEL!

Michael Strahan and Kelly Ripa, September 2012

Recently, television history was made when Michael Strahan beat out strong competition to become Kelly Ripa’s co-host, and Regis Philbin’s replacement on ABC’s nationally syndicated talk-show Live!.  Mr. Strahan is no stranger to history-making.  After fifteen years as a New York Giants’ award-winning defensive player, a Super Bowl (XXXV) Championship and a successful career as a sports commentator, Michael is obviously comfortable being at the top of his game in front of the American television-viewing public.   Indeed, Mr. Strahan is considered a shoo-in for the NFL Hall of Fame in 2013.  Live! with Kelly and Michael launched amidst much fan-fare on September 4^th.

I spoke with Michael’s mother, Louise, in August, and again on the morning of Michael’s debut.  Courteous but initially cautious, she was excited and proud to see her baby boy take the spotlight in this new arena.  She was happy he had gotten what he wanted and worked so hard to accomplish.

Mike is the last of six children – two girls and four boys.  Precocious and always happy, he was doing “homework” with his older siblings, even as a toddler, and started school in First Grade, bypassing kindergarten altogether.  He was, Ms. Louise said, something of a procrastinator, but always “a great student”.  Generally described as an army brat, Michael moved from base to base, but spent his most formative years in Mannheim, West Germany.

A rambunctious lot, Miss Louise says the four boys romped and got up to all sorts of shenanigans: but when she had talked enough, to no avail, it was time to break out the strop or the switch and “Let ‘em know who’s boss”!  Nothing could dampen Michael’s irrepressible spirit, however.  She says he was always well-liked, affable and even then, charming.  And beneath all of that there was a fierce determination to succeed.  His parents made it clear that whatever he wanted, he’d have to work for it – and work he did:  Being industrious was a part of his heritage – his dad, especially, being a US Army Major, enforced this ethic; says Michael in an interview with Veterans’ Advantage,

Michael Strahan and Father, Gene (undated)

“Because of my father’s military background, I learned discipline and about hard work.  My father was and still is the biggest influence in my life,” he said.

Mike was always energetic and participated in all sports — his mom coached the basketball team and his dad was a champion Armed Services boxer.  But Gene was the primary influence in his athletic career.  It’s been reported in different sources that Mike would get up at 5:30 AM to run the 82^nd Airbourne Unit’s obstacle course with his dad, going for up to five miles at a time, and this when still a youngster. And it is most likely from Gene that he gets his fierce determination to win at all cost.   In his book, Inside the Helmet: Hard Knocks, Pulling Together, and Triumph as a Sunday Afternoon Warrior, Mike describes his feelings after losing a game,

“When you lose, you feel so incredibly sick to your stomach, you want to crawl up into the fetal position and literally hide… you can’t even face the cashier at a McDonald’s drive-through window… After a loss, I feel nauseated. My insides burn. I don’t feel like eating and there is not a single thing that can help me get over it, aside from a win.”

Gene fostered young Mike’s penchant for success, and both parents assured him he could do anything and be anything – but he would have to work for it.  Take no hand-outs, work hard and practice often and keep at it until he got to be the best he could be.  Mike himself admits he hates to lose, but his biggest opponent is always his own last record — he always seeks to up his game.  On his auditions for Live!, he says, “…after the first time, I was like, ‘I can do better’ and I wanted to do better. I’m competitive.”

And Gene says, in this New York Times article,

”I never pushed him to come along on those morning runs, that’s the thing,” Gene said. ”We’d be up in the woods trying to stay in shape for this elite outfit, and the next day, he would be right back there. I never asked him to come to the gym. Something was gnawing at him to make himself better.”

It is this phenomenal sense of greatness that makes Michael the unbeaten record holder for the most sacks in an NFL season; and the Giants’ defensive captain who led them to the 2008 Super Bowl Championship.  Mike resigned football immediately after that season and embarked on Life After The Super Bowl.  He parlayed his extraordinary NFL career into a super-successful TV personality, a sports commentator, a TV sitcom, and now his co-hosting spot with Kelly on the Emmy-winning and hugely popular Live!  Filling Regis’s shoes is no easy task, but this six-foot-five linebacker should have no trouble doing just that. In fact, according to Broadcasting and Cable Magazine, Mike’s self-described “two dearly distanced front teeth” smile has sent Live! into “ratings stratosphere”!

In one of my phone calls to Ms. Louise, as she grew more comfortable with me, her smooth, rich Texas drawl became more pronounced when she expressed how proud she was of Michael, because “he always wanted to be something”.  She further explained why she was proud of him,

“One thing I like about him is that even with all this success, it didn’t change his personality – he’s still the same Michael he always was.  Everyone says that about him”.

His parents remain his biggest fans.  I asked her does he take care of them, and she says, “Oh, yes!”, with obvious joy and pride.  Michael himself, in his book, describes how,

“Before I was in the NFL, I told my parents that if I ever made it, I would buy them a house. Ten years later, when I wanted to fulfill my promise, I didn’t put a price limit on finding their dream house. My parents didn’t have an extravagant lifestyle, but I also didn’t expect it to be under $500,000.”

Which brings me to the other side of Michael Strahan:  Known to be a popular, charismatic leader, it might surprise many how much family means to him.  The word itself, family, appears thirty-five times in his book, a paperback of only 320 pages!  He goes back often to visit them, and he, his siblings and parents have always had, and maintain, a warm and close relationship.  He considers his family a “solid background that some fellows don’t have”.

Ms. Louise says Mike continues to live by the no-nonsense principles they instilled in him, hard work, earning your keep, honoring your word, finishing what you start, speaking your mind while respecting others, and saving your money for a rainy day.  (And Mike’s generosity and sense of community are well-known:  he helps out several charities, was one of the first sport stars to contribute large sums to the 9/11 fund and he is also at the forefront of the NFL speaking out about gay rights.)

In her warm, well-modulated anecdotes, the stories of Mike’s childhood are funny and spotlight many of their lifelong tenets:

Michael and his Mom, Louise, (undated)

In spite of their being comfortable, the Strahans encouraged frugality and little extravagance – Mike’s favorite meal was “whatever she put on the table!”  He had no choice in the matter.  And when adolescent Mike decided he wanted to become a professional cyclist, a la Lance Armstrong, the bike he wanted was waaaaaay outside their budget.  His parents challenged Michael to raise half the cost and they’d put up the balance.  By cutting lawns, working at the commissary, typing reports for school-mates and whatever else, it took Mike but a few months to present Gene and Louise with his share.  And it was this same frugality that insisted that Mike go to a U.S. High School for a semester so he could qualify for an athletic scholarship.  And when he did get the scholarship, but didn’t want to stay at the college after the first semester, it was the same frugal, finish-what-you-start mentality that kept him there, “My Dad was like, Son it’s free, I am not paying for you now, you are going.” http://juicychitchats.blogspot.com/

Mike’s racing bike still hangs in Ms. Louise’s garage; at least once per year she laughingly threatens to put it out with the garbage.  Mike however, holds on to that bike as one of his first symbols of what can be attained by a dream, determination, hard work, and parental support.

Here are a few basics on Michael Strahan:

DOB:  November 21, 1971

Place of Birth:  Houston, TX

Complications at birth: None

Birth:  natural

Birth weight:  big

Breast or bottle:  N/A

Talked when: normal

Walked when:  normal

Potty trained when:  normal

Siblings:  3 brothers, 2 sisters

Birth order:  last born

Raised in: Army Bases around the country and world

 Race: Black

Looks:  Takes after his mother and father

Religion:  Christian

College: Texas Southern University