Howard Baum, the longtime face behind NC State’s stat sheet, has died at 92.
Baum’s family confirmed the news Thursday, closing the book on a remarkable run that stretched more than five decades and started in 1967. He spent more than 50 years serving as the statistician for NC State men’s basketball and football, becoming a fixture on the Wolfpack sideline through generations of coaches and players.
His path with NC State began in the 1960s, when he was working at Western Lanes on Hillsborough Street. He first came aboard as a spotter for the football team, then settled into the role that would define his career: tracking stats for both men’s basketball and football for decades.
“It’s fun. I’ve seen some great, great basketball, especially, and a lot of good football,” Baum told NC State Magazine back in 2024.
“You get to know the players, and they’re all good kids. I’ve outlasted all the coaches.
They were all good. They’ve been good to me.
It’s just been a good ride.”
Baum became especially familiar to Wolfpack fans during NC State’s ACC championship run and Final Four trip in the 2023-24 season. Broadcasters repeatedly recognized him on television while he worked alongside Gary Hahn, who was set to retire at the end of that season.
His daughter, Nancy Schenk, wrote in a Facebook post: “A life well lived and a gentle soul that helped thousands,” Nancy Schenk, Baum's daughter, wrote in a Facebook post. “The second picture was around 8 p.m. last night, singing the N.C.
State fight song one last time! Fittingly, 'Go State,' were some of his last coherent words.”
Baum was honored on the court at Lenovo Center at the end of last season, and that night turned out to be his final game as the Wolfpack’s statistician. With Baum now gone, and with Hahn and Tony Haynes retired, NC State’s radio crew will look very different next season than it did at the end of the 2023-24 campaign.
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