Harvey Pollack

Herbert Harvey Pollack (March 9, 1922 – June 23, 2015) was an American sports statistician, a journalist of sports and entertainment, a publicist, and long term director of statistical information for the Philadelphia 76ers. 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, then Philadelphia Bulletin 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. although others claim that it was coined by former Los Angeles Lakers 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.