#7: Active Living with Former Scholar-Athlete Award Winner Phillip Deane

Phillip Deane's connections with Sports Backers and active living started in 2005, when he was recognized as one of the overall winners in the Richmond Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers Scholar-Athlete Awards program as a senior at Varina High School in Henrico County. He went on to play baseball at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, graduating with a degree in economics in 2009. He continued to stay active after his college athletics career ended, taking part in a number of road running events over the next decade.

His life was changed during a medical emergency near the finish line of the Richmond Half Marathon in November 2018, and thanks to the quick actions of the event medical team and doctors at VCU Health, he received lifesaving care. It was a very scary situation for Phillip and his family, and he spoke about the challenges of his recovery and his commitment to staying active.

Phillip reached out to a few of us at Sports Backers in the fall of 2020 to with a few updates about his active living journey and to share his appreciation for the role that Sports Backers has played in his life. It was very impactful to read and we wanted to follow up with him to learn more. The result of that discussion is this episode, which has been several months in the making. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did.