Jump to content

Andy Phillip

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Andy Phillip
The Illio, 1947
Personal information
Born(1922-03-07)March 7, 1922
Granite City, Illinois,U.S.
DiedApril 29, 2001(2001-04-29)(aged 79)
Rancho Mirage, California,U.S.
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 draft1947:5th round, 47th overall pick
Selected by theChicago Stags
Playing career1947–1958
PositionPoint guard/shooting guard
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)
StatsEdit this at Wikidataat NBA.com
Statsat 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 professionalbasketballplayer.[2]Born inGranite City, Illinois,Phillip had an 11-year career and played for theChicago Stagsof theBasketball Association of Americaand thePhiladelphia Warriors,Fort Wayne PistonsandBoston Celtics,of theNational Basketball Association(NBA).

High school/College

[edit]

Phillip led his high school in Granite City, Illinois, to theIHSAstate championshipin 1940 by defeatingHerrin High Schoolwith a final score of 24–22 atHuff Gymon theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaigncampus. It would be that same gymnasium where he earned renown for his talents and for theFighting Illini'ssuccess 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 includedKen Menke,Gene Vance,Jack Smileyand team captainArt Mathisen.Arguably the most talented basketball team in the nation, Phillip and his teammates would elect not to participate in either theNCAAorNITtournament based on the army's draft of Mathisen, Menke and Smiley.[4]The team was retroactively named the national champion by thePremo-Porretta Power Poll.[5]Four of the five, minus Mathisen, returned to Illinois and tried to recapture the glory for one more season in1946–47after the war ended, but the chemistry had changed as well as their talent. Illinois went 14–6.

While attending Illinois, Phillip was a member ofDelta Tau Deltafraternity. Phillip served as afirst lieutenantin theUnited States Marine Corpsin World War II atIwo Jima.[6][7]

Professional basketball

[edit]

Phillip played in the first fiveNBA All-Star Games,and was twice named to theAll-NBA Second Team.He was the first player to record 500 assists in a season, the first to reach the 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 career assists milestones, andled the NBA in assistsduring the1950–51and1951–52 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. The1957 Boston teamwon theNBA Championship.

Phillip was alleged by one of hisFort Wayne Pistonsteammates,George Yardley,to have conspired with gamblers to throw the1955 NBA Finalsto theSyracuse 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 theSt. Louis Hawksfor 10 games in 1958, posting a 6–4 record before he was fired.[10]Phillip later coached theChicago Majorsof theAmerican Basketball League.[11][12]

Phillip was elected to theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famein 1961. He was elected to theIllini Men's Basketball All-Century Teamin 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 inRancho 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, titledMen of Granite,in 2007. A film based on the book, directed by Dwayne Johnson-Cochran, began production in 2015.[15]

Honors

[edit]

Basketball

[edit]

Baseball

[edit]

Athletics

[edit]

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 GS Games started MPG Minutes per game
FG% Field goalpercentage 3P% 3-point field goalpercentage FT% Free throwpercentage
RPG Reboundsper game APG Assistsper game SPG Stealsper game
BPG Blocksper game PPG Points per game Bold Career high
† Won anNBA 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. Archived fromthe originalon December 14, 2008.
  2. ^abAndy Phillip Stats.Basketball Reference. Accessed on June 9, 2017.
  3. ^"Illinois Basketball All-Time Rosters".Archived fromthe originalon March 22, 2010. Accessed on June 10, 2017.
  4. ^"My Losing Season: Wyoming @ Utah: Sailors, Ferrin, Mikan and the Great Santini".Archived fromthe originalon July 14, 2011.RetrievedOctober 7,2010.
  5. ^ESPN, ed. (2009).ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game.New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 565.ISBN978-0-345-51392-2.
  6. ^"Sport: Whiz Kids, Grown Up".Time.December 23, 1946. Archived fromthe originalon February 19, 2011.
  7. ^Lamothe, Dan (April 29, 2009)."Corps to induct 4 into Sports Hall of Fame".Marine Corps Times. Archived fromthe originalon February 23, 2012.RetrievedMay 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.ISBN1-58322-268-5
  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".Archived fromthe originalon February 7, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 5,2019.
  17. ^100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament
  18. ^Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related toAndy Phillip.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andy_Phillip&oldid=1228985883"