Andrew Toney (born November 23, 1957) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe called Toney "the most forgotten great player in NBA history". Toney played for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers from 1980 to 1988. He was selected by the 76ers with the eighth overall pick in the 1980 NBA draft. He was known as "the Boston Strangler" for his exceptional play in the playoffs against the Boston Celtics. A two-time NBA All-Star, he won an NBA championship with the 76ers in 1983. His NBA career field goal percentage of 50 percent is remarkable for a guard often shooting from distance.
Contemporary basketball greats Larry Bird and Sidney Moncrief put Toney on par with Michael Jordan offensively. But for career ending chronic foot injuries, it was widely believed by his contemporaries that he would have been selected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Teammate Julius Erving said after Toney led the 76ers to a Game 7 win over the Boston Celtics in the 1982 NBA Eastern Conference finals, "'There is no legal way to stop Andrew Toney'".
Toney was an All-American as a junior and senior at Glenn High School in Birmingham, Alabama; averaging over 30 points per game both years. As a senior, he was selected as Alabama's "Mr. Basketball". He was team captain his senior year, and agreed to Sandra Murray's joining the boys' basketball team. She sometimes started with him in the backcourt.
Toney attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). He averaged 23.6 points per game during his college career. He led the team to the 1977 Southland Conference championship. Toney was twice named the Southland Conference Player of the Year (1978, 1980). He was selected first-team All-Southland Conference in 1978, 1979, and 1980; leading the conference in scoring average all three of those seasons. As a senior, he led Southwestern Louisiana to a 21–9 record, reaching the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals. Toney set nine school records at Southwestern Louisiana and scored 46 points in a game three times. He had 2,526 total career points, 13th highest in NCAA history at the time his college career ended. Toney obtained his undergraduate degree after 3½ years, and immediately began graduate studies.
In 2015, Toney was honored by the Georgia State Senate for his community work as a lead program coordinator in the Gwinnett County Public School system's academic support department, playing a major role in its mentoring program pairing African American middle and high school boys with male mentors.
Early life Toney was born on November 23, 1957, in Birmingham, Alabama, where his father Earnest James Toney, from whom Toney learned dedication, was a steelworker. His parents always preached academics over athletics to him.
Toney attended Birmingham's Glenn High School. On the basketball team, he averaged 31 points per game as a junior and 37 points per game as a senior. He once scored 68 points in a regional tournament game. He was named Alabama's “Mr. Basketball” as a senior, and was named to All-America teams as a junior and a senior. He was also All-Southern, All-State, All-City and All-District as a junior and senior. The team was 80–14 with Toney. He also played baseball and participated in track. As a youth, he idolized future teammate Julius "Dr. J." Erving.
As a senior, Toney was team captain, playing guard. Another teammate, who would sometimes start at guard with Toney, was Sandra Murray. It was extremely unusual to have a girl playing on the boys' team, and before coach Hansell Gunn would agree to her joining the team, he told Murray she would have to obtain approval of the other players. Murray went to Toney as team captain, and they worked out Murray's playing on the team; Toney telling Murray that if he agreed to it the other players would as well.
College Toney attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), graduating ahead of time in 3½ years and starting graduate school in his final semester. He played basketball under coaches Jim Hatfield and Bobby Paschal in the Southland Conference; Paschal observing Toney's extraordinary self-discipline and ability to focus in setting and achieving goals.
Toney averaged 21 points per game as a freshman, leading the team in scoring and ranking third in the Southland Conference. Toney averaged 24.5 points per game as a sophomore, leading the Southland Conference. He also led the conference in total points (661), field goal attempts (468), free throws attempted (179), and free throws made (137). He was named Southland Conference Player of the Year in 1977–78. As a junior (1978–79), Toney led the Southland Conference in scoring average again (23.3 points per game). He averaged 26.1 points as a senior (1979–80), leading the Southland Conference for a third consecutive season; and was named Southland Conference Player of the Year for the second time.
In 1977, Toney led Southwestern Louisiana to the Southland Conference title. As a senior, he led Southwestern Louisiana to a 21–9 record, going as far as the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals. He was first-team All-Southland Conference in 1978, 1979, and 1980. He set nine school records, and scored 46 points in a game three times, including a game against Auburn to win the Bayou Class Championship.
Over his 107-game college career, Toney averaged 23.6 points, 3.7 assists, and 3.2 rebounds per game. He finished his college career with 2,526 points, 13th highest in NCAA history at the time. Foreshadowing his reputation in the NBA, after winning a game during his junior year against University of Nevada-Reno, 73–71, by making two free throws with only seconds left, Toney said "'I like pressure situations. ... They build up my blood'".
Professional career
Philadelphia 76ers (1980 to 1985) Toney was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers out of Southwestern Louisiana with the eighth pick of the 1980 NBA draft. On arriving in Philadelphia, future Hall of Famer Julius Erving took Toney under his wing.
As a rookie (1980–81), Toney averaged 12.9 points and 3.6 assists per game in only 23.6 minutes per game. Toney had a .495 field goal percentage and was seventh in rookie of the year voting. In early November, only 12 games into the season, starting shooting guard Doug Collins suffered a recurrent stress fracture in his foot (and would never play again in the NBA). The same condition would end Toney's career eight years later.
Toney then became the starter at shooting guard as a rookie, starting in 57 games that year playing next to point guard Maurice Cheeks (with Lionel Hollins also playing significant amounts of time at guard that season). Toney averaged 23 minutes, 12.5 points, and six assists per game in the 76ers two-game sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the 1981 NBA playoffs. In the 76ers seven-game series win over the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1981 Eastern Conference semifinals, he only averaged 18.7 minutes per game, while Hollins played 30.3 minutes per game.
Toney's vaunted play against the Boston Celtics began in his rookie season. In the final regular season game of 1981, Toney came off the bench against the Celtics to play 33 minutes and score 35 points. In the first game of the 1981 Eastern Conference finals between the 76ers and the Celtics, he had 26 points. After that game, Dick Weiss of the Philadelphia Daily News referred to Toney taking over Lloyd Free's role as the "Boston strangler". Toney then scored 35 points in Game 2; both of which games were played in Boston. The Sixers were up 3–1 in the series, but the Celtics held Toney to only 17 points in the final two games and took the series. Overall in the series against the Celtics, Toney averaged 19.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, and three assists per game in only 25.6 minutes per game.
In the 1981–82 season, the 76ers started two point guards, Cheeks and Hollins, with Toney coming off the bench. Toney averaged 24.8 minutes, 16.5 points, and 3.7 assists per game during the regular season. In a nationally televised game on March 7, 1982, coming into the game off the bench and playing 35 minutes, Toney scored 46 points against the Los Angeles Lakers and Hall of Fame defensive specialist Michael Cooper. The 76ers swept the Atlanta Hawks in two games during the first round of the 1982 NBA playoffs. Toney averaged 27.5 minutes, 14.5 points, three assists and two rebounds per game. Toney's playing time increased during the ensuing playoff series that year after Hollins broke his own hand punching the Hawks' Wayne "Tree" Rollins in Game 2. Toney had been taken out of the game with a sprained ankle, but had to return after Hollins was injured.
The 76ers then defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1982 Eastern Conference semifinals in six games. Toney, now starting, averaged 31.5 minutes, 19.5 points, three assists, and 1.7 rebounds per game. He had 26 points in the 76ers Game 1 victory, and 31 points in the 76ers Game 2 win. The 76ers then went on to play the Boston Celtics in the 1982 Eastern Conference finals, winning that series in seven games. Toney led the 76ers in scoring against the Celtics, averaging 22.1 points in 33.7 minutes per game. Toney had 30 points in the 76ers Game 2 win, and 39 points in the 76ers Game 4 win.
Toney was dubbed "the Boston Strangler" by Boston sportswriters during the 76ers' and Celtics' rivalry in the early 1980s because of his ability to single-handedly dominate games against the Celtics. While his playoff career points per game average was 17.4 overall, against the Celtics it was 19.8. Most famously in Toney's history against the Celtics, in Game 7 of the 1982 Eastern Conference finals, played in Boston, Toney scored 34 points in the 76ers 120–106 victory over the Celtics.
The 76ers had a 3–1 series lead in 1982, but lost Games 5 and 6, with Toney playing poorly in Game 6 (scoring only three points). The 76ers and Toney came into Game 7 determined to prove they were not "chokers". His teammates made efforts before the game to affirm Toney's usual confidence in his abilities. Toney scored 13 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter, despite being unsuccessfully double- and triple-teamed, physically hit by the Celtics, and covered by a variety of Celtics (including even Larry Bird). Toney also resisted the temptation to be drawn into retaliation or a fight by the Celtics' physical tactics; and played 43 minutes in the game. Game 7 ended with the Celtics crowd shockingly chanting for the rival 76ers to "Beat L.A."
Celtic guard M. L. Carr, who had to play against Toney during the teams' rivalry, said Toney's passing made him even more impossible to guard, and that "'In his offensive game . . . there were no faults at all". Carr called Toney "'the best when it came to undressing a defensive player'". He added "There was only one way I ever found to stop him. You got him away from the ball, made sure no referee was looking, then laid a forearm to his face'". Carr admitted years later, "'I shouldn’t say this, but my goal was to get him out of the game with a hit . . . That’s what I was trying to do all the time'". After the 76ers Game 7 win over the Celtics in 1982, Erving said in the winning locker room "'There is no legal way to stop Andrew Toney'".
The Los Angeles Lakers won the 1982 NBA Finals over the 76ers in six games. Toney averaged a team-leading 26 points per game, to go along with 7.8 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game, a .529 field goal percentage, .750 three-point field goal percentage, and .862 free throw percentage in that series. Toney had 36 points in a Game 3 loss, 28 points, 11 assists, and five rebounds in a Game 4 loss; 31 points and eight assists in a Game 5 win; and 29 points and six assists in Game 6.