LEBANON - Kathleen Phillips, 55, the director of sports information at Dartmouth College and well known in New Hampshire women's amateur golf for more than three decades, died yesterday at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center after a brief illness.

Phillips, who grew up in Concord, was known to many as Kathy Slattery until her marriage to Corey Phillips in 2005.

Following graduation from Syracuse University in 1974, she was a reporter in the Lebanon area for the Manchester Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News until she became Dartmouth's assistant sports information director in 1977. In 1983, she assumed the duties she has held for the past 24 years.

She was the second female SID in the Ivy League. She was responsible for all phases of communications relating to coverage of Dartmouth's 34 varsity athletic teams and played an important role in the evolution of women's athletics that were introduced at Dartmouth and the Ivy League in the 1970s.

"The Dartmouth community is terribly saddened by Kathy's passing," said James Wright, president of the College. "What a tragedy. Kathy brought energy and enthusiasm and professionalism to everything she did. She cared deeply about student athletes, the coaches, and the Dartmouth athletic programs. We send condolences to her family and join in their grief. She will be sorely missed by us all."

She was dean of sports information directors in the Ivy League, a member of the College Sports Information Directors Association of America (CoSIDA) and of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Sports Information Directors Association. Phillips was the 1997 winner of the Irving T. Marsh Award, the "highest honor" given by ECAC-SIDA for contributions to the profession.

"The feeling of sorrow and sadness is overwhelming within the department and college, as I am certain it will be with everyone who was touched by Kathy on a professional and a personal level," said Josie Harper, Dartmouth's director of athletics and recreation. "The Dartmouth athletic family has lost a dear friend and a wonderful colleague whose dedication and professionalism was unmatched. For 30 years, Kathy has worked tirelessly on behalf of Dartmouth and thousands of our student-athletes."

Asked recently to describe her job, she said, "Nobody outside the business knows what an SID does. It's a labor of love and anonymity." Her standard personal putdown was, "Hey, I'm just the cab driver."

Phillips covered 305 consecutive Dartmouth football games dating back to Sept. 18, 1976. That's the 10th longest streak among the nation's sports information directors.

Phillips was born May 24, 1952, in Concord, the daughter of Jeannette (Jet) Anton and the late William Slattery. She graduated from Concord High School in 1970.

Phillips graduated cum laude from Syracuse with a major in newspaper journalism and anthropology. At Syracuse, she was captain of the women's swim team for two years while working as assistant to the men's swim coach and coaching the Syracuse Chargers AAU program. As a senior, she was the recipient of the Lucille Verhulst Sportswoman of the Year Award.

Her career in athletics began at Concord High where she began to accumulate numerous club, city and state golf awards. In 1968, at age 16, she won the Beaver Meadow women's golf championship.

That was the beginning. In 2002, she was recognized in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd after she won her 18th straight Hanover Country Club women's championship. That brought her total of New Hampshire club championships to 36, including five at Beaver Meadow, nine at Eastman Golf Links in Grantham, and 22 at Hanover Country Club.

In addition, she won the 1988 New Hampshire state women's championship and for many years has been prominent in state and regional women's golf. She was a past president of the New Hampshire Women's Golf Association and, for all of her individual honors, regarded her role in establishing the state's junior golf program as her most notable achievement.

In addition to her husband, survivors include a stepson, Carter, and a stepdaughter, Elizabeth; her mother of Concord, and her brother, Richard (Rick) Slattery of Rochester, N.Y. and a nephew, Matthew Slattery of Rochester, N.Y.

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