LeTourneau University Athletics

Portia Phillips, affectionately known by LeTourneau student-athletes and staff as Ms. P, spent over two decades as the head athletic trainer before retiring in 2024. Phillips arrived in Longview in 2003 as the first full-time athletic trainer the University employed. Over her career, Ms. P was at the foundation of LeTourneau athletics. 

She began her 30-plus year career in athletic training at her alma mater, East Texas State University (now East Texas A&M), as the Assistant Athletic Trainer. In 1997, she was one of two African-American women credited with becoming the first to be nationally certified as athletic trainers in the state of Texas. After four years as the Assistant Athletic Trainer at East Texas State, she became the Head Women's Athletic Trainer at Louisiana Tech University.

Her reach at LeTourneau extended far beyond the athletics department. Phillips was awarded the LETU Shining Star Award in 2006, voted on by the university faculty and staff members and awarded for care, service and relationship building with students. In the 2009-10 academic year, she was voted by her peers as the American Southwest Conference Athletic Training Staff of the Year.

In 2022, she was inducted into the East Texas Athletic Trainers' Association Hall of Honor and in 2021 was the recipient of the John Harvey Humanitarian Award for having a significant positive impact on ethnic minority athletic trainers and the physically active population. Phillips was also awarded the NAACP Clifford E. Stewart Sportsmanship Award in 2015, given to the athlete, coach, or sports team that exemplifies the attributes of character, integrity, and sportsmanship.