John Bernard "Jay" Handlan (February 2, 1928 – January 10, 2013) was an American college basketball star at

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexingto ...

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...

from 1948 to 1952. He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, Handlan is best known for being a prolific scorer and for setting the still–standing

National Collegiate Athletic Association 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 ...

(NCAA) record for

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

attempts in a game with 71.

College career

During his four-year career with the W&L Generals, Handlan set two NCAA basketball records, including most

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

s made in a single game without a miss (18) and field goal attempts (71). The former record has since been broken, but the 71 field goal attempts is a record that will probably last forever, given today's focus on team-concept basketball and a slower-style pace of play. The attempts record occurred on February 17, 1951 in a 97–82 win over

Furman University Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...

. Handlan scored 66

points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

that game, which is in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

top five record for most points in a game by a single player. He shot 30-for-71 in field goal attempts but missed his first seven shots. He scored 49 of his 66 points in the first half alone. When asked about his 71 shot attempts and school-record 66 points performance, Handlan offered his rationale for why he was allowed to do so:

We weren't super formidable. I was the only scholarship player on the team. That night was sort of a planned situation. It was 'Let's see what I can get.' To be honest, I was tired at the half.

Handlan owns the highest single-season scoring average (26.7 points per game) in Washington and Lee history as well as the top career scoring average (21.3 points per game). In his last collegiate game, played on March 1, 1952 against

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

, Handlan surpassed the 2,000-point threshold to become just the third player to score 2,000+ points in major college basketball history. He entered that contest with 1,987 points and scored 15, finishing his Washington and Lee career with 2,002 points—currently the second highest in school history behind Dom Flora's 2,310.

Later life

Shortly after he concluded his college career, Handlan was drafted by 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)'s

Indianapolis Olympians The Indianapolis Olympians were a founding National Basketball Association (NBA) team based in Indianapolis. They were founded in 1949 and folded in 1953. Their home arena was Butler Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University--now known as Hin ...

in the 1952 draft. However, he never played a game in the NBA. He instead played in the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

(AAU) for a brief period, including a selection in 1953–54 as an all-star while playing for the

Akron Goodyears The Akron Goodyear Wingfoots are one of the oldest basketball teams in the United States. They were founded in 1918, by the workers at the Goodyear Tire Company, in Akron, Ohio. The teams, while giving workers recreation, also helped to promote ...

. He eventually became the president of an engineering firm in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and owned a house in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Handlan died on January 10, 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Handlan, Jay 1928 births 2013 deaths Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from West Virginia Forwards (basketball) Indianapolis Olympians draft picks Sportspeople from Wheeling, West Virginia Washington and Lee Generals men's basketball players

College career

Later life

See also

References