Andrew Michael "Handy Andy" Phillip (March 7, 1922 – April 29, 2001) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player.Andy Phillip Stats
Basketball Reference. Accessed on June 9, 2017. Born in

Granite City, Illinois Granite City is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States, within the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. The population was 27,549 at the 2020 census, making it the third-largest city in the Metro East and Southern Illinois regions, ...

, Phillip had an 11-year career and played for the

Chicago Stags The Chicago Stags were a National Basketball Association team based in Chicago from 1946 to 1950. History 1946–47 season In the BAA's inaugural year, the Chicago Stags were placed in the Western Division, and after 60 games were tied with the ...

of the

Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA absorbed most of National Basketball League (NBL) and rebranded as the National Ba ...

and the

Philadelphia Warriors The history of the Golden State Warriors began in Philadelphia in 1946. In 1962, the franchise was relocated to San Francisco, California and became known as the San Francisco Warriors until 1971, when its name was changed to the current Golden St ...

Fort Wayne Pistons A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

and

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

, of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA).

High school/College

Phillip led his high school in Granite City, Illinois, to the IHSA state championship in 1940 by defeating Herrin High School with a final score of 24–22 at Huff Gym on the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

campus. Ironically it would be that same gymnasium where he earned renown for his talents and for the Fighting Illini's success during war-interrupted, non-consecutive seasons in 1941–1943 and 1946–1947. Phillip was the untitled leader of ''" The Whiz Kids"'', a team that included

Ken Menke Kenneth Howard Menke (October 2, 1922 – September 2, 2002) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball League for the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in 1947–48 and the Waterloo Hawks in the National Baske ...

Gene Vance Ellis Eugene Vance (February 25, 1923 – February 16, 2012) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Chicago Stags and Tri-Cities ...

Jack Smiley Arthur John Smiley (December 22, 1922 – July 30, 2000) was an American professional basketball player. Smiley played basketball for Waterman High School, in Waterman, Illinois. With Gene Vance, Andy Phillip, Ken Menke, and Art Mathisen, Smiley w ...

and team captain

Art Mathisen Arthur Fremont Mathisen (February 27, 1920 – January 5, 2004) was an American college basketball standout for Illinois in the 1940s. A center, Mathison led the Fighting Illini in rebounding while scoring over 500 points in his three years of var ...

. Arguably the most talented basketball team in the nation, Phillip and his teammates would elect not to participate in either the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

or NIT tournament based on the army's draft of Mathisen, Menke and Smiley. The team was retroactively named the national champion by the

Premo-Porretta Power Poll The Premo-Porretta Power Poll is a retroactive end-of-year ranking for American college basketball teams competing in the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons. The Premo-Porretta Polls are intended to serve collectively as a source of informa ...

. Four of the five, minus Mathisen, returned to Illinois and tried to recapture the glory for one more season in 1946–47 after the war ended, but the chemistry had changed as well as their talent. Illinois went 14–6. While attending Illinois, Phillip was a member of

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapters ...

fraternity. Phillip served as a

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...

in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

in World War II at

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

Professional basketball

Phillip played in the first five

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is a basketball exhibition game hosted every February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's star players. It is the featured event of NBA All-Star Weekend, a ...

s, and was twice named to the

All-NBA Second Team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sele ...

. He was the first player to record 500 assists in a season, and led the NBA in assists during the 1950–51 and 1951–52 seasons. Phillip reached the postseason every year he was in the league, and his teams made it to the NBA Finals during his final four seasons — twice with Fort Wayne and twice with Boston. The 1957 Boston team won the

NBA Championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

. Phillip was alleged by one of his

teammates,

George Yardley George Harry Yardley III (November 3, 1928 – August 12, 2004) was an American basketball player. He was the first player in NBA history to score 2,000 points in one season, breaking the 1,932-point record held by George Mikan. Yardley was en ...

, to have conspired with gamblers to throw the 1955 NBA Finals to the

Syracuse Nationals The Philadelphia 76ers are an American basketball team currently playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 76ers are third in NBA history in wins and playoff appearances. 1946– ...

. In the decisive seventh game, Phillip turned the ball over with three seconds remaining in the game, enabling Syracuse to win by one point, 92–91. After retiring from playing basketball, he coached the

St. Louis Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

for 10 games in 1958, posting a 6–4 record before he was fired. Phillip later coached the

Chicago Majors The Chicago Majors was a basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, that was a member of the American Basketball League from 1961 to 1963. History The American Basketball League played one full season, 1961–1962, and part of the next season un ...

of the American Basketball League. Phillip was elected to the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

in 1961. He was elected to the Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team in 2004. In 2007, Phillip was voted one of the "

100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) celebrated 100 years of the IHSA State Tournament in the 2006-07 season. A list of "100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament" was assembled on December 14, 2005. Throughout the state, 281 ind ...

", recognizing his superior performance in his appearance in the tournament. Phillip died at his home in

Rancho Mirage, California Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and located ...

, on April 29, 2001, aged 79. Sports writer Dan Manoyan wrote a book about Phillip and his Granite City High School basketball teammates, titled ''Men of Granite'', in 2007. A film based on the book, directed by Dwayne Johnson-Cochran, began production in 2015.

Honors

Basketball

* 1942, 1943, 1947 – First-team All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

First Team All-American * 1943 –

National Player of the Year National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

* 1943 –

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

National Player of the Year * 1943 – Big Ten Player of the Year * 1961 – Inducted into the

* 1973 – Inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame as a player. * 2004 – Elected to the " Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team". * 2006 – Inducted into the

National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to men's college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the National ...

* 2007 – Named one of the

. * September 13, 2008 – Honored as one of the 34 honored jerseys which hang in the State Farm Center to show regard for being the most decorated basketball players in the University of Illinois' history.

Baseball

* 1947 – Baseball All-American (

First baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

)

Athletics

* 1942, 1943 – University of Illinois Athlete of the Year * 2017 – Inducted into the Illinois Athletics Hall of FameIllinois Athletics Hall of Fame
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Statistics

Basketball

BAA/NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Head coaching record

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St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

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References

External links

*
BasketballReference.com: Andy Phillip (as player)

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillip, Andy 1922 births 2001 deaths All-American college baseball players All-American college men's basketball players Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American Basketball League (1961–62) coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Illinois Battle of Iwo Jima Boston Celtics players Chicago Stags draft picks Chicago Stags players Fort Wayne Pistons players Illinois Fighting Illini baseball players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Basketball Association All-Stars National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees People from Granite City, Illinois Philadelphia Warriors players Point guards Shooting guards Sportspeople from Greater St. Louis St. Louis Hawks head coaches United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Military personnel from Illinois