INDIANAPOLIS -- In the early days, the wild and fancy-free days of the American Basketball Association, Bill York would sit courtside at Indiana Pacers games, tapping away the play-by-play at a typewriter and sneaking sips of beer during timeouts. York was the original stats crew chief for the startup Pacers team in 1967.
Those first few years, York didn't make a penny keeping stats. He made his pay selling heavy machinery by day and heading to the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum by night. He wasn't there for the money. He was there because he loved the Pacers. He loved Indy. And he loved sports.
York, who through his life has been called the "godfather" of Indy sports and the face of the evolution of the city's sports scene, died Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn. He was 90. Colts owner Jim Irsay and IndyCar vice-president of communications Dave Furst were among the many people to post memories on X of York.
For five decades, York remained as stats crew chief for the Pacers. Meanwhile, in 1984, he took on the same role for the Indianapolis Colts when they came to town and was the team's stat chief for 30-plus years. And inside the media center at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, York was the man who commanded the room for six decades.
All over Indy's sports landscape are York's fingerprints, his impact, his recordings of sports history, his smile, his boisterous laugh and his no nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is attitude.
"I loved when he would yell to the crowded IMS media center cafe, 'It’s crowded you free loaders. If you’re done eating, get the hell out,’” Jake Query, an IndyCar announcer and sports radio host of "Query & Company," posted to social media, announcing York's death.
"A gentle giant, his media center artwork of the Indy 500 starting grid is legendary. Godspeed to an Indianapolis icon."
The Pacers became a part of him
York, a former high school basketball player from Peru, was already a pressroom expert at IMS when he got the call from the Pacers in 1967. The call came from his good friend Bill Marvel, who had been named the Pacers' first public relations manager.
Marvel was at his desk, staring down at stacks of letters from the upstart ABA, and he was panicking.
"Bill, I don't know a thing about stats," Marvel lamented on that call to York. "You've got to come out here and help me."
On the other end of the phone, York smiled. He loved stats. Not long after, the Pacers hosted a callout meeting for people interested in joining York's stats crew. More than 100 people showed up, cramming into an old jewelry store on 38thand College Ave., the franchise's original office.
Seven people made the cut and under stats crew chief York, each had a task — keeping points, recording rebounds, tracking assists and so on.
At the end of each game, "York would collect the stats and hand-crank some 1,000 sheets of paper on a mimeograph machine, fax that to the league office then dole out copies to the sportswriters who chased their deadlines in a cramped yet cozy Coliseum press room that had been converted from … a women's restroom," IndyStar wrote in 2014.
The Pacers became a part of him, York said at the time. The highlights for him were the team's title seasons.
"He still proudly wears his championship rings and still has a few good (Slick) Leonard and (Mel) Daniels stories he loves to tell," IndyStar wrote. "He watched Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain coach, and Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan play. And so many, many, many more."
Among those players he watched were the first Pacers to try for a spot.
"He was there for the original call-out for talent, when guys came in off the street to try to earn a professional basketball contract and kept stats for the scrimmages," Mark Montieth wrote in 2013.
York was there, too for the city's other major sports events, running the stat crews for the Colts and the Indianapolis 500.
"He always had control of every situation, always kept a sense of humor," Montieth wrote, "and therefore was always a pleasure to see."
'Friendly, helpful, a smidge gruff when needed'
At the Speedway, York was a fixture for more than 50 years, especially with journalists in the media center. He began working in the Indianapolis 500 press room in 1958 gathering stats and eventually also managing the media center.
In 2011, York was announced as the winner of the Jim Chapman Award for excellence in motorsports public relations, considered by many in the industry as the highest honor in racing public relations. The award is named in memory of Chapman, a legendary PR executive and innovator, who worked with Babe Ruth and was named IndyCar racing's "most influential man" of the 1980s.
"I admired everything that Jim Chapman stood for and tried to emulate all of his skills," York said in 2011. "He was the real, true professional PR man. I'm elated that I even had the opportunity to know him and to work with him for many years. The things that I learned by watching Jim through the years certainly influenced how I worked with the media."
How he worked with the media was special.
"Damn. Loved that guy. Always friendly and helpful," Scott R. Smith, a former journalist at ESPN posted on Facebook Tuesday. "And just a smidge gruff when needed."
"(He was) an icon in the Indianapolis sports world that will never be forgotten," David George, who York hired in 1998 to join the Colts' stat crew and later hired for the Pacers, wrote on Facebook.
"Over many decades, Bill has shown he understands the value of actually talking to people and getting to know them," Michael Knight, chairman of the Jim Chapman Award selection committee, said in 2011, "and that having those professional relationships best serve clients in good times - and bad."
"Everyone liked admired and respected Mr. York," said Darrell Francis. "What a polished sense of humor he had. He treated people quite well."
"He and his stat/scoring/timing crew set the standard of excellence," former IndyStar sports columnist Bill Benner posted to Facebook. "(York) was primary among Indy’s ambassadors/servants during the city’s sports evolution."
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via e-mail:dbenbow@indystar.com
