Bill Mokray

Who was Bill Mokray?

William G. "Bill" Mokray was a leading basketball statistician and historian.

Mokray's love of basketball stats began while attending Passaic High School in Passaic, New Jersey. After graduating from the University of Rhode Island, he worked as a public relations director first for Rhode Island State College and, beginning from 1946, for the Boston Celtics basketball team. He founded and was the editor for The Official NBA Guide, authored the history of basketball article for the Encyclopædia Britannica and wrote a 900-page Ronald Basketball Encyclopedia. He was considered the number one authority on basketball's history and owned what was considered to be the world's largest basketball library, most of which was donated to the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1965 as a contributor.