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

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player.Andy Phillip Stats
Basketball Reference. Accessed on June 9, 2017. Born in Granite City, Illinois, Phillip had an 11-year career and played for the Chicago Stags of the Basketball Association of America and the Philadelphia Warriors,

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 ''face ...

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 sports league, 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 i ...

(NBA).

High school/College

Phillip led his high school in Granite City, Illinois, to the IHSA

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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 Un ...

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, Gene Vance, Jack Smiley and team captain Art Mathisen. 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 ...

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. 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 fraternity. Phillip served as a

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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 c ...

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 Games, 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 sel ...

. 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 a ...

. Phillip was alleged by one of his

teammates, George Yardley, to have conspired with gamblers to throw the 1955 NBA Finals to the Syracuse Nationals. 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 for 10 games in 1958, posting a 6–4 record before he was fired. Phillip later coached the

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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", recognizing his superior performance in his appearance in the tournament. Phillip died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, 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 & 1943 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, c ...

* 1943 – Sporting News 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 * 2007 – Named one of the 100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament. * September 13, 2008 – Honored as one of the 34 honored jerseys which hang in the

State Farm Center The State Farm Center is a large dome-shaped 15,544-seat indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The arena hosts games for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, ...

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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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