Steinman, Columbia athletics head, dead

“Bill’s passion for Columbia was second to none,” Athletic Director Peter Pilling said. “Bill touched the lives of so many Columbians — from student-athletes and staff members to the countless members of his student staff that he mentored, many of whom remain involved with our athletics program.”

Steinman was born Dec. 31, 1944, and graduated from Hofstra. Nicknamed “Stats,” he was head statistician of the American Basketball Association’s New York Nets and was hired by Columbia in 1970 in the start of a four-decade career.

He spent 14 years as assistant to sports information director Kevin DeMarrais, then took over as department head in 1984 during the time Columbia launched a women’s athletic consortium with Barnard.

Among the athletes he promoted were Major League Baseball player Gene Larkin; NFL player Marcellus Wiley; Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Cristina Teuscher; Columbia baseball pitcher Rolando Acosta, currently presiding judge of the New York State Supreme Court’s appellate division for the first department in Manhattan; and Columbia rower George Yancopoulos, president of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.