Humber legacies build on their parents success

By: Julia Vellucci
Humber Athletics Communications

Kyle Gray-Phillips has been playing volleyball for the Humber Hawks for four years. He follows in his parent's footsteps, who both represented the Hawks on the volleyball court. His mother, Colleen Gray, was a two-sport athlete for the Hawks and is in the Humber and OCAA Hall of Fame.

"She was sort of their one and only star player," Gray-Phillips said about his mother's time at Humber. "She loved it, was very passionate, and was hard-working. Then, after she played, she coached at Humber for a bit. She always loved the sport, same with my dad." 

His father, Ken Phillips, also played volleyball for Humber with coach Wayne Wilkins, who was a player for the Hawks' volleyball team at the time and is also the godfather of Gray-Phillips' sister.

"He played in the early 90s, played with Wayne. He [my dad] was also a very good player. Never got any accolades for it. Talking to people in the volleyball community who played with him and against him, they would say he's an all-star. He jumped through the roof. He was a very loud person on the court," Gray-Phillips said.

Additionally, his sister, Alyssa Gray-Tyghter, played on Humber's volleyball team for a year when she attended the University of Guelph-Humber and is now Manager of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Humber Polytechnic.

Despite his connection to Humber volleyball, Gray-Phillips was never pushed to play volleyball. Instead, he found a liking for the sport on his own after playing hockey for a while and trying out club volleyball in grade 11.

"It's completely different athleticism-wise'" he said. "It's a completely different use of muscles and how your body works. It definitely took me a while to get to a place to get as good as I am, but I think I just got into it because of my family's ties to volleyball. We're just a volleyball family."

Gray-Phillips said his biggest accomplishment right now is winning three OCAA championships, proving himself at the national championships and receiving many messages across the league from people saying they know who he is.

"I may play professionally," he said when asked about his plans after graduation. "I'll get an agent, put my name out there, see what I get. But it's not something I'm super big on. See what the future has in store for me. Really, I'm just focusing on this season but may come back for another year depending on how I'm feeling after this season." 

"You got to love the journey. That's what makes it worthwhile. That's the best part of anything in life. It's just the journey of getting there, working on your craft, putting in the extra hours, extra minutes, whatever it is. You've got to love the process. You're not always going to have your best day. Out of every three practices, you can have one great one, one okay one and one terrible practice." 

For Hannah Manners, who has also been playing volleyball for four years at Humber, has family ties that make her athletic experience all the more heartwarming.

Manners' dad, Warrick, is a two-time Humber men's basketball national champion and current Hawks men's basketball assistant coach, inspired her to join and play on Humber's volleyball team.

Growing up, she was told she had to be doing some sort of activity, and she tried every sport until she found volleyball at the age of 13. She has been playing volleyball ever since, loving the environment and the drive and motivation both she and her teammates have always put in.

"I've grown up around Humber. When I was little, he used to bring me to the big Humber-Sheridan basketball games, and I would sit in the crowd by myself, eating the popcorn as a little girl," said Manners, reminiscing about her early experiences with Humber Athletics. "Honestly, I always loved the environment. When I applied to Humber, I was like, well, I might as well play volleyball too." 

"I emailed Coach Wilkins, and we had meetings, and I ended up signing to Humber, and then from there, I didn't look back. But my dad influenced me a lot because he knows how good the program is and how much I could excel within the program," she added.

Warrick winning those two national titles as a player and having a varsity award named after him adds extra motivation for Hannah to succeed in the navy and gold.

"I definitely think he was a big player," Manners said. "He holds that over my head a lot, especially that he has two national championships. But I feel that puts a little bit of pressure on me, and it adds a layer of expectation that I've had to learn to manage." 

"I want to have those bragging rights towards him, because he always holds those two rings over my head. He's always like, 'When is it your turn to get a ring?' And I'm like, 'It's this year'," she continued.

Manners won the Warrick Manners Sportsmanship Award in 2023, her dad's award, which was both sentimental and a surprise to her.

"I think my advice to athletes would be to keep going even for the recruitment process. It's a really bumpy road. You'll have people who turn on you, people who will talk to you about how much potential you have and then lose interest in you. Keep pushing and know your worth, for how good you are, and don't settle. Just keep pushing and everything will work out," she said.