John B. Handlan II, 84, businessman, hoops legend

When businessman John B. Handlan II began coaching boys basketball for Grace Episcopal Church in Haddonfield in the early 1970s, the players didn't immediately know how blessed they were.

They grew in awe of him because with Mr. Handlan, they won. But the man towering at courtside was himself a winner - one for the basketball history books.

As an All-America forward at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, Class of 1952, the 6-foot-2 gunner ripped through records as handily as the paper on which they were written. He was a prodigious scorer and only the third player to that point in national college basketball to exceed 2,000 points, reaching 2,002 in four years with the Generals.

In a 97-82 victory over Furman University in 1951, he not only racked up 66 points but also set an NCAA record for the most field goal attempts - 71 - in a single game, making 30 of them.

That record has survived Mr. Handlan, who died Thursday, Jan. 10, at age 84 of complications of dysphagia at Florida Hospital in Ormond Beach.

He moved to Florida from Haddonfield a dozen years ago, after retiring as president of Philadelphia-based H.L. Yoh Co., a major supplier of technology staffing, and board chairman of its parent, Day & Zimmerman.

In the 1940s, though, no one would have wagered a cent that "Jay" Handlan would wind up in industry or, for that matter, anywhere but pro sports.

Born and raised in Wheeling, W.Va., he lettered in football, basketball, and track at Triadelphia High School. By the time he graduated in 1946, his stepfather had died. To help support his mother, a state tennis star, he joined the Army.

He was assigned to Special Services - playing basketball on the Fort Bragg, N.C., and Fort Jackson, S.C., teams until his discharge in 1948.

The G.I. Bill was his ticket to Washington and Lee, where he got his mother a job as his fraternity's housemother.

Over four years, he juggled a psychology major and a hoops schedule that had him starting in all 93 games. He was captain for two years and All-America for three, and he still owns the highest single-season scoring average (26.7 per game) in school history.

It was the 1951 Furman matchup, though, that ensured the legend.

On the night of Feb. 17, a Sports Illustrated article recounted, his name "became the answer to the best basketball trivia question of all time: Who holds the NCAA record for the most field-goal attempts in one game? Somehow, some way, somewhere over the rainbow . . . Handlan took 71 shots. . . . At LSU, Pete Maravich took 1,168 shots in a season and 3,166 in his career, but never 71 in a game."

Defying good sense, Mr. Handlan squeezed in a season of football in his senior year.

The kicker-punter had been hurt in the preseason. As a favor to frat brothers on the team, Mr. Handlan stepped in. It was a show of character, said his son, William.

"He was the No. 2 scorer in the nation as a junior in basketball and decided as a senior to play football to help his friends, [though it] jeopardized his senior basketball season."

The football team finished 8-3 and went to the 1951 Gator Bowl.

After graduation, Mr. Handlan was drafted by not only the NBA but also the NFL, with offers from the Indianapolis Olympians and Cleveland Browns. He declined both.

Newly married and with the first of five children on the way, he opted for security, said his wife, Elizabeth.

So he rebounded to the amateurs, signing for four years with the Goodyear Wingfoots in the Amateur Athletic Union. Under the deal, he got to play competitively while earning money learning the corporate ropes at the rubber giant.

Mr. Handlan worked in Goodyear's airfoam division, then in personnel for Lockheed in Marietta, Ga. In 1966, he joined Yoh, a small Philadelphia concern that he helped grow into one of the leading suppliers of engineers and other technical staff for large companies.

He settled his family in Haddonfield, in his wife's home state. There, he jumped into any youth sport that needed coaching, starting with boys' basketball at his church.

"He wasn't much on joining clubs," said his wife of 60 years. "But he coached all over, all the time. The kids might not have known his record, but they admired him because they usually won."

As years went by, "he was fulfilled by his family, and busy with the company. I never heard him say, 'I wish I had been a pro.' "

He was, she said, "a man with no regrets."

Along with his wife and son, he is survived by daughters Susan and Karen; sons John and Alfred; and 13 grandchildren. A memorial service and burial will be scheduled in Haddonfield.