Herbert Harvey Pollack (March 9, 1922June 23, 2015) was an American sports

statistician A statistician is a person who works with Theory, theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private sector, private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, a ...

, a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

and

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

, a

publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for work or a project such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists wh ...

, and long term director of statistical information for the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

. At the time of his death, Pollack was the only person still working for the NBA since its inaugural 1946–47 season. Because of his proclivity to

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

, then ''

Philadelphia Bulletin The ''Philadelphia Bulletin'' (or ''The Bulletin'' as it was commonly known) was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was ...

'' writer George Kiseda pinned the moniker of ''Super Stat'' on him in 1966.

Early life

Pollack played basketball for Simon Gratz High School and graduated in 1943 from Temple University in Philadelphia.

Career

He took his first job as a sportswriter for the ''

'' after serving as a soldier in the United States Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1946–47 he started as the assistant publicity director for the Philadelphia Warriors of the Basketball Association of America, which later merged with the National Basketball League to form the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. Midway through the 1952–53 season, he became head of media relations for the Warriors. The Warriors were sold by owner

Eddie Gottlieb Edward Gottlieb (born Isadore Gottlieb; September 15, 1898 – December 7, 1979) was a Jewish-Ukrainian professional basketball coach and executive. Nicknamed "Mr. Basketball" and "the Mogul", he was the first coach and manager of the Philadelph ...

(a founder of the NBA) and the team moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1962 (renamed

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

), but Pollack remained in Philadelphia, where he worked for the NBA in various capacities until the 76ers were formed in 1963. Pollack then served as the media relations director of the Philadelphia 76ers until the 1987–88 season, when he assumed the duties of director of statistical information for the team. 220px, Historical marker for Pollack in South Philadelphia Pollack holds the distinction of keeping score during Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game, on March 2, 1962. According to Pollack, it was the "Busiest night of my career" as there was no press. Thus, he was the statistician and sole reporter for the game. Pollack made Chamberlain the sign which he holds in his famous post-game photo. Pollack was responsible for many stats that are now officially recorded by the NBA, such as blocked shots, and he was the first statistician to separate rebounds into offensive and

defensive Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

. Some believe he coined the term "triple-double," although others claim that it was coined by former

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

public relations director, Bruce Jolesch. During the Sixers’ offseason, Pollack analyzed all 1,230 play-by-play sheets from the previous season (every game of the regular season) to produce the Harvey Pollack's NBA Statistical Yearbook, a book of rare basketball information that took statistical analysis to a new level. It includes stats such as the shot distance of every field goal, who gets their shot blocked the most, and other creative categories like "working-man," which a player has to contribute to every category but no fouls or turnovers, and "trillionaire club" which is when a player plays in a game and has all zeros across their name. This NBA publication evolved from developing the first of its kind media guides for the Philadelphia 76ers in 1966–67 and then separated later into a new NBA publication to become among the most distinguished compilations in the sports business. Pollack claimed that Wilt Chamberlain had not only a quadruple-double, but also a game where he recorded at least double digits in all five primary statistical categories. However, this has not been recorded in the books because the NBA had not officially adopted the statistics yet.

Death

On June 23, 2015, Pollack died at the age of 93.

Awards and honors

* Philadelphia Big 5 Hall of Fame, 1995. (category – Statistician) * John Bunn Award, 2002. * Pennsylvania Historical Marker, dedicated May 19, 2016 located curbside at South Philadelphia Sports Complex.

References

External links