Football Hall of Fame to Honor St. John’s Alumnus Who Led Landmark Sports Statistics Firm

A St. John’s University alumnus who revolutionized professional football without ever suiting up for a game has inched closer to election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH.

Seymour Siwoff ’43SJC, former head of the sports statistics firm the Elias Sports Bureau, will posthumously receive the Hall of Fame’s Ralph Hay Pioneer Award, given to recipients for “significant innovative contributions to professional football.” The Hay award, presented only 11 times since 1972, is considered a precursor to Hall of Fame induction.

Mr. Siwoff’s grandson, Joe Gilston, who later acquired the company, will accept the Hall of Fame honor in August on behalf of his family. The family was informed of the honor on March 10.

“My grandfather loved sports, but as my mother joked, he was not good enough as an athlete,” Mr. Gilston said. “One way for him to get close to sports was to work on the data side. My grandfather always talked about how statistics help to illuminate players from the past.”

Mr. Siwoff, who died in 2019 after living most of his life in Queens, NY, earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from St. John’s Brooklyn, NY, campus. He enrolled at the University after an honorable discharge from the US Army, during which he earned a Purple Heart while fighting in Italy during World War II.

Mr. Gilston said his grandfather was drawn to St. John’s New York City location and its well-regarded accounting program. “He always wanted to be an accountant, and its location in Brooklyn enabled him to work in Manhattan while going to school,” Mr. Gilston said. “The opportunity to combine his love of numbers with sports was something he never expected, and clearly St. John’s nurtured that.”       

In 1952, Mr. Siwoff purchased the Al Munroe Elias Baseball Bureau from the widows of Al and Walter Elias, renaming it the Elias Sports Bureau. The new name reflected Mr. Siwoff’s ambition to expand statistical services beyond baseball. “He wanted to help those who did not watch a game to understand what happened in the game,” Mr. Gilston recalled.

Over time, Elias became the official record-keeper for Major League Baseball (MLB); the National Football League (NFL); the National Basketball Association (NBA); the Ladies Professional Golfers Association (LPGA) Tour; the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA); and Major League Soccer (MLS).

By the 1970s, the company was using computer programs to unearth data and anticipate player performance, decades ahead of the Moneyball-inspired sports analytics explosion. Elias used those statistical insights to craft story lines for ABC’s Monday Night Football, expanding knowledge and interest in the NFL across the country.

“In 1961, when Elias became the NFL’s official statistician, Major League Baseball was far and away the most popular sport in the country,” Mr. Gilston said. “Today, you think about fantasy football and sports betting, and it all came out of an ecosystem my grandfather created.” 

Unlike baseball, which has traditionally embraced data, football statistics were minimal when Elias partnered with the NFL. Only seven were even recognized by the league—passing attempts, completions, turnovers, touchdowns, passing and rushing yards, and longest play from scrimmage.

Mr. Siwoff and Elias changed that, adding quarterback sacks, punting and field goal statistics, “red zone” efficiency, and more to the NFL’s lexicon. Red zone efficiency, which measures a team’s success in scoring from inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, has become an analytical baseline for coaching staffs and even spawned a spinoff broadcast channel from NFL Network—NFL RedZone.      

Under Mr. Siwoff’s leadership, Elias also established a streamlined procedure for authenticating weekly statistics. Each week during the season, Mr. Siwoff reviewed film at the NFL office to ensure unusual plays had been scored correctly. That weekly film review practice continues today at the company.

“You cannot tell the history of the NFL without its statistics, and Seymour—and his decades of work at Elias Sports Bureau—did more in that area than any other individual,” Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said. “He used his knowledge, talent, and passion for numbers to help the NFL record and preserve its history, and over time, created new statistics to track.”

Mr. Siwoff was a semifinalist for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year and will remain a candidate in future years. In the meantime, his grandson is taking Mr. Siwoff’s case to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for enshrinement in Cooperstown, NY. That case is also rooted in his revolutionary presentation of statistics—Elias has verified the accuracy of all baseball records dating back to 1876.

If Mr. Gilston succeeds, his grandfather will join Cal Hubbard as the only person enshrined in both halls of fame. “There is a strong likelihood that one day I am there for his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, too,” Mr. Gilston said.