If you ask Jim Phipps '68 about his role in building Cedarville University’s Department of Communication, he redirects you. He wants to talk about anyone other than himself. He tells you about a student, or his wife, or the catalog of Cedarville faculty members who carried the load with him. He tells you that the people around him are the ones responsible for the department’s success. “This community’s done more for me than I’ve ever done for it,” he says, chuckling at the suggestion that he’s special. But if you listen closely, you realize that there’s a glimmer of autobiography tucked into each of Phipps’ anecdotes — quiet details that reveal his stamp on Cedarville. He doesn’t mean to include these, but every story about the Department of Communication seems to point back to Phipps. “He’s too humble to say it, but I tell everyone: You can’t tell the story of Cedarville Communication without talking about Dr. Phipps,” Derrick Green ’97, current department chair, said. “He built us.” And perhaps that’s the best way to characterize Jim Phipps: a builder. He looks at people, departments, churches — even household projects — and pours himself out to strengthen them. His handiwork bears his mark. Indeed, Cedarville’s Department of Communication can look at Phipps’ 52 years of service and echo, “He built us.” But Phipps wasn’t always the invested leader that Cedarville community members know him as today. In fact, when he first arrived at Cedarville in 1964, he was a reluctant and overwhelmed student. Phipps was raised in northern California and planned to study pre-law at Stanford University on a full-ride scholarship. He’d heard about Cedarville through his Baptist church, but he ruled it out due to finances. If he chose Cedarville, he’d have to sell his car to make the tuition payment. “I put a lot of work into that car,” Phipps explained. “It was special to me.” One night during his senior year of high school, Phipps rushed out the door to attend a prayer meeting. As he started driving toward the church, he prayed, “Lord, I’ve made my decision. Let me go to Stanford and keep the car.” Four miles down the road, Phipps flipped his car three times before wrapping it around a tree. He had to crawl out the back window to escape. During his recovery in a nearby hospital, Phipps was greeted by an attorney. The attorney asked Phipps to identify the kind of car he’d been driving because the accident left it mangled beyond recognition. “On his way out, that attorney said to me, ‘Well, you must have a reason to live, because you shouldn’t be alive,’” Phipps said. “I figured from then on that Cedarville was my reason to live.” Phipps began classes at Cedarville the following fall, majoring in English and speech. Insurance money from the accident paid for his first term tuition. ORDINARY BEGINNINGS As an undergraduate, Phipps kept busy. In addition to his English and speech degrees, he was one class away from a B.A. in history and one class away from a B.A. in Bible. When he wasn’t in class, he radio-broadcasted for Cedarville’s Yellow Jacket basketball team — a role he maintained for over 30 years throughout his teaching career — competed on BY HE I DI E (RAINE) SENSEMAN ’ 23 Every story about the Department of Communication seems to point back to Phipps. Cedarville Magazine | 5
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