Sixers stat man Harvey Pollack dies at 93

HARVEY POLLACK was all about the numbers. And there was no one better at recording them than he.

Given the nickname "Super Stat" in 1966 by then-Bulletin sports writer George Kiseda, Pollack brought such terms as triple-double, blocked shots, assists and steals into the everyday basketball vernacular.

But the numbers stopped Tuesday, as Pollack passed away at the age of 93.

Pollack was involved in a one-car accident on New Year's Day, after serving as a judge for the Mummers Parade, suffering numerous injuries. He never recovered from those injuries.

Born March 9, 1922, to immigrant parents Louis and Rebecca Pollack, Harvey grew up on Dauphin Street in North Philadelphia and was a 1939 graduate of Simon Gratz High School.

He entered Temple University that fall.

By his senior year, Pollack began to be defined by basketball statistics. In 1942, he started keeping his own stats as a student-manager for first-year basketball coach Josh Cody. Keeping track of just field goals, free throws and fouls bored Pollack, so he approached Cody and said, "I can do shots attempted, rebounds, assists ... "

Not long after, at the urging of Temple's legendary sports information director Bob Geasey, Pollack was sending his stats to all five Philadelphia daily newspapers. The other city schools took notice that Temple's stats were taking up two columns while theirs only took up one.

After a crash course in the sport, Pollack also became the official scorer for Temple football, providing that service until 2010.

He was always sure to remind people that he was at the 1941 Temple-Penn State game, the last time the Owls beat the Nittany Lions.

Upon graduation and after serving two years in the Air Force, Pollack, with a kind word from Geasey, was hired by the Bulletin in 1946. Soon afterward, Pollack became the unofficial college basketball statistician for Convention Hall, where Saint Joseph's, Temple and La Salle played their games. And people were taking notice.

One such person was Eddie Gottlieb, the owner of the Philadelphia Warriors in the fledgling Basketball Association of America.

"As I was told," Pollack said in 2012, "they were sitting around in a room discussing who to get to do stats. Gotty said how about that kid who does the college games at Convention Hall? It wasn't until 10 years later that I told Gotty that I had only half a season of doing the job."

"It was a good thing you were good at it, damn you," Gottlieb snarled.

He was better than good. In 2002, Pollack became the first — and still only — statistician enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Through Gottlieb's uninformed yet proper hire, Pollack unknowingly began a streak that lasted until yesterday, as being the only person associated with the NBA since Day 1. He previously shared the lead with Red Auerbach, who died in 2006.

The impact he had on basketball statistics was similar to the impact his favorite player, Wilt Chamberlain, had on the record books.

The 76ers began publishing "Harvey Pollack's NBA Statistical Yearbook" in 1966. It has grown from 24 pages to almost 400 pages in its latest edition. It has become the bible for all stat freaks.

Everything you ever wanted to know — or didn't want to know — about NBA stats is in there. He broke down dunk leaders' shots by alley-oop, driving, putback, reverse, running, slam, fastbreak and plain. Want a 48-minute projection? In there. Rebounding opponents' missed free throws? Got it. Jump ball situations. Number of offensive fouls. Four-point plays. League leaders in tattoos. All there.

But Pollack's greatest night as a stat man, sports writer and PR director was March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pa. Chamberlain, playing for the Warriors, scored 100 points against the New York Knicks and Pollack was the only media representative there. Besides being the Warriors' public relations director, he was also writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Bulletin, Associated Press and United Press International. And then he had the wherewithal to grab Paul Vathis, an Associated Press photographer who just happened to be at the game but not shooting it, to take a photo of Chamberlain in the locker room after the game. Needing something to commemorate the historic event, Pollack scribbled "100" on a piece of paper. Wilt held it up and Vathis shot what became one of the most iconic photos in sports history.

As for numbers, here are a few: married to Bea for 58 years, outlasted 3 arenas (Philadelphia Arena, Convention Hall and the Spectrum), 13 Halls of Fame, 4 rings (two with the Warriors and two with the Sixers), 8 Philadelphia pro teams he and his crew have been official scorers for (NBA Warriors, roller derby Warriors, minor league hockey Ramblers, lacrosse Wings, Sixers, Continental League's Bulldogs, WFL's Bell and the USFL's Stars), 15 years as the official scorer for the Baltimore Colts, and 23 leap years he was alive for.