Andy Phillip
Andrew Michael "Handy Andy" Phillip (March 7, 1922 – April 29, 2001) was an American professional basketball player. Andy Phillip was 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, of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Also recorded as Andrew Michael Phillip
Andy Phillip

D. Kirk - Son of Walton Kirk Jr. · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Andy Phillip
- Born
- 7 March 1922
- Birthplace
- Granite City, Illinois, U.S.
- Died
- 29 April 2001
- Place of death
- Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- military officer · baseball player · basketball coach · basketball player · film director
- Education
- University of Illinois System
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Andrew Michael "Handy Andy" Phillip (March 7, 1922 – April 29, 2001) was an American professional basketball player. Andy Phillip was 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, of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
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wikidata · Q527022 · wikipedia · Andy Phillip
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Andy Phillip • Height Ft — 6 • Height In — 2 • Weight Lb — 195 • Born — 7 March 1922 • Birthplace — Granite City, Illinois, U.S. • Died — 29 April 2001 • Place of death — Rancho Mirage, California, U.S. • High School — Granite City (Granite City, Illinois) • College — Illinois (1941–1943, 1946–1947) • Draft Year — 1947 • Draft Round — 5 • Draft Pick — 47 • Draft Team — Chicago Stags • Career Start — 1947 • Career End — 1958 • Career Position — Point guard / shooting guard • Career Number — 19, 7, 4, 14, 17 • Years1 — 1947– • Team1 — Chicago Stags • Years2 — start–start • Team2 — Philadelphia Warriors • Years3 — start– • Team3 — Fort Wayne Pistons • Years4 — start– • Team4 — Boston Celtics • Cyears1 — start • Cteam1 — St. Louis Hawks • Highlights — *NBA champion (1957) • 5× NBA All-Star (1951–1955) • 2× All-NBA Second Team (1952, 1953) • 2× NBA assists leader • Sporting News Player of the Year (1943) • 2× Consensus first-team All-American (1942, 1943) • Consensus second-team All-American (1947) • Stat1label — Points • Stat1value — 6,384 (9.1 ppg) • Stat2label — Rebound • Stat2value — 2,395 (4.4 rpg) • Stat3label — Assists • Stat3value — 3,759 (5.4 apg) • Hof Player — andy-phillip • Cbbaskhof Year — 2006
Professional basketball
Professional basketball
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, the first to reach the 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 career assists milestones, 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. 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. 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 Chicago Majors of the American Basketball League. 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. 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.
Basketball
Basketball
• 1942, 1943, 1947 – First-team All-Big Ten • 1942 & 1943 First Team All-American • 1943 – National Player of the Year • 1943 – Sporting News National Player of the Year • 1961 – Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame • 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 jersey which hangs in the State Farm Center to show regard for being the most decorated basketball players in the University of Illinois' history.
Baseball
Baseball
• 1947 – Baseball All-American (First baseman)
Athletics
Athletics
• 1942, 1943 – University of Illinois Athlete of the Year • 2017 – Inducted into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame
Basketball
Basketball
• Season — Games — Points — PPG — Big Ten Record — Overall Record — Highlight • 1941–42 — 23 — 232 — 10.0 — Consensus 1st team All-American • 1942–43 — 18 — 305 — 16.9 — Big Ten and National Player of the Year • 1946–47 — 20 — 192 — 9.6 — Consensus 2nd team All-American • Totals — 61 — 729 — 12.0 — ' — '
Regular season
Regular season
• 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
Playoffs
• 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
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1922
Andy Phillip born at Granite City.
2001
Andy Phillip died at Rancho Mirage.
Places
Named by the record
Places
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Granite City.
Birth place
Rancho Mirage.
Death place
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 campus. 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 or NIT tournament based on the army's draft of Mathisen, Menke and Smiley. The team was retroactively listed as the top team of the season 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 first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in World War II at Iwo Jima.
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Andy Phillip is recorded as military officer, baseball player, basketball coach, basketball player and film director.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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