Andy Phillip

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Andy Phillip
Andy Phillip, c. 1947.jpg
The Illio, 1947
Personal information
Born(1922-03-07)March 7, 1922
Granite City, Illinois
DiedApril 29, 2001(2001-04-29) (aged 79)
Rancho Mirage, California
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
High schoolGranite City (Granite City, Illinois)
CollegeIllinois (1941–1943, 1946–1947)
NBA draft1947 / Round: 1 / Pick: 31st overall
Selected by the Chicago Stags
Playing career1947–1958
PositionGuard
Number19, 7, 4, 14, 17
Career history
As player:
1947–1950Chicago Stags
1950–1952Philadelphia Warriors
1952–1956Fort Wayne Pistons
1956–1958Boston Celtics
As coach:
1958St. Louis Hawks
Career highlights and awards
Career statistics
Points6,384 (9.1 ppg)
Rebound2,395 (4.4 rpg)
Assists3,759 (5.4 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2006

Andrew Michael "Handy Andy"[1] Phillip (March 7, 1922 – April 29, 2001) was an American professional basketball player.[2] 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 and Boston Celtics, all of the National Basketball Association.

High school/College[edit]

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 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.[3] 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 or NIT tournament based on the Army's draft of Mathisen, Menke and Smiley;[4] the team was retroactively named the national champion by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.[5] 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 First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in World War II at Iwo Jima.[6][7]

Professional basketball[edit]

Phillip played in the first five NBA All-Star Games, and was twice named to the All-NBA Second Team, 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,[2] 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.

Phillip was alleged by one of his Fort Wayne Pistons teammates, George Yardley, to have conspired with gamblers to throw the 1955 NBA Finals to the Syracuse Nationals.[8] 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.[9]

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.[10] Phillip later coached the Chicago Majors of the American Basketball League.[11][12]

Phillip was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame 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.[13]

Phillip died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California on April 29, 2001, aged 79.[14]

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.[15]

Honors[edit]

Basketball[edit]

  • 1942, 1943, 1947 - First-team All-Big Ten
  • 1973 - Inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame as a player.[16]
  • September 13, 2008 - Honored as one of the thirty-three 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[edit]

Athletics[edit]

  • 2017 - Inducted into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame[18]

Statistics[edit]

Basketball[edit]

Season Games Points PPG Big Ten
Record 		Overall
Record 		Highlight
1941–42
23
232
10.0
13–2
18–5
Consensus 1st team All-American
1942–43
18
305
16.9
12–0
17–1
Big Ten and National Player of the Year
1946–47
20
192
9.6
8–4
14–6
Consensus 2nd team All-American
Totals
61
729
12.0
33–6
49–12

BAA/NBA career statistics[edit]

Legend
  GP Games played  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game
 PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
† Denotes season in which Phillip won an NBA championship
* Led the league

Regular season[edit]

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1947–48 Chicago 32 – .336 .583 – 2.3 10.8
1948–49 Chicago 60 – .348 .676 – 5.3 12.0
1949–50 Chicago 65 – .349 .704 – 5.8 11.7
1950–51 Philadelphia 66 – .399 .751 6.8 6.3* 11.2
1951–52 Philadelphia 66 44.4 .366 .753 6.6 8.2* 12.0
1952–53 Philadelphia/Fort Wayne 70 38.4 .397 .738 5.2 5.7 10.3
1953–54 Fort Wayne 71 38.1 .375 .730 3.7 6.3 10.6
1954–55 Fort Wayne 64 36.4 .371 .692 4.5 7.7 9.6
1955–56 Fort Wayne 70 29.7 .365 .563 3.7 5.9 5.8
1956–57† Boston 67 22.0 .379 .642 2.7 2.5 4.4
1957–58 Boston 70 16.6 .355 .592 2.3 1.7 3.4
Career 701 32.3 .368 .695 4.4 5.4 9.1

Playoffs[edit]

Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG
1948 Chicago 5 – .283 .714 – .8 7.2
1949 Chicago 2 – .389 1.000 – 6.0 19.5
1950 Chicago 2 – .259 .769 – 6.0 12.0
1951 Philadelphia 2 – .400 .500 7.5 7.0 7.5
1952 Philadelphia 3 40.7 .421 .792 4.7 7.3 11.7
1953 Fort Wayne 8 41.1 .338 .667 4.0 3.8 10.3
1954 Fort Wayne 4 34.0 .342 .750 3.0 4.3 8.8
1955 Fort Wayne 11 40.5 .323 .850 5.5 7.1 8.5
1956 Fort Wayne 10 17.3 .333 .440 2.6 3.5 2.9
1957† Boston 10 12.8 .364 .400 2.0 1.7 2.2
1958 Boston 10 9.1 .238 .778 1.4 .7 1.7
Career 67 25.4 .330 .700 3.3 3.7 6.4

Head coaching record[edit]

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %
Playoffs PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win–loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
St. Louis 1958–59 10 6 4 .600 (fired) — — — — —
Total 10 6 4 .600 — — — —

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Sport: Whiz Kids". Time. March 15, 1943.
  2. ^ a b Andy Phillip Stats. Basketball Reference. Accessed on June 9, 2017.
  3. ^ "Illinois Basketball All-Time Rosters". Archived from the original on March 22, 2010. Accessed on June 10, 2017.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved October 7, 2010.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 565. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
  6. ^ "Sport: Whiz Kids, Grown Up". Time. December 23, 1946.
  7. ^ Lamothe, Dan (April 29, 2009). "Corps to induct 4 into Sports Hall of Fame". Marine Corps Times. Archived from the original on February 23, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2009.
  8. ^ The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball. By Charley Rosen. p. 154. 2001 Seven Stories Press. ISBN 1-58322-268-5
  9. ^ "City Hails Nats' World Title Triumph", Syracuse Herald Journal, April 11, 1955, pp. 1, 45.
  10. ^ Andy Phillip Coaching Stats. Basketball Reference. Accessed on June 10, 2017.
  11. ^ Association for Professional Basketball Research American Basketball League page
  12. ^ NASLJerseys.com Chicago Majors
  13. ^ IHSA 100 Legends of Boys Basketball
  14. ^ Goldstein, Richard. "Andy Phillip, 79, Whiz Kid In College, All-Star in N.B.A.". The New York Times. May 4, 2001. Accessed on June 9, 2017.
  15. ^ Wright, Branson. "Men of Granite sports movie begins production in Cleveland next month". Cleveland.com. July 21, 2015. Accessed on June 9, 2017.
  16. ^ IBCA Hall of Fame
  17. ^ 100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament
  18. ^ Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame

External links[edit]

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