Harry H. Hollingsworth

Harry H. Hollingsworth

Harry Howard Hollingsworth, 77, author, sports statistician, and opinion researcher, died on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2002, with family members at his side.

He was born Oct. 6, 1925 and was a life resident of Akron. Although blind in sight, he was a man of strong con victions, including world peace and unity and the betterment of the average person. He was also a man of strong faith, belief, and dedica tion to Christ. He will be missed by his family and many friends.

He graduated from Garfield High School in 1943 and held a B.S. in marketing from the University of Akron, which he received in June 1949. While at the University of Akron, he was named "Outstanding Junior in English, Speech, and Jour nalism" and "Outstanding Senior in Marketing." He also was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha social fraterni ty and Omicron Delta Kappa, A Key, "Who's Who in American Colleges," Phi Eta Sigma, Phi Sigma Alpha, and Beta Delta Psi scholas tic and activities honoraries. Harry earned an M.B.A. in marketing from Northwestern University in 1950 where he became a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, national business honorary. He served in the Combat Engineers during World War II being discharged in 1946 after 28 months of service, rising to the rank of Technical Sergeant. He served 18 months in the European Theater.

A lifelong member of Trinity Lu theran Church, Harry served on its church council for 12 years, edited its newsletter for eight years, and wrote for the newsletter for an additional 23 years. He edited many newspapers and newsletters, including student newspapers at Garfield High School and the University of Akron and the National Marketing Association's newsletter. As editor of the University of Akron Buchtelite in 1947 he met his wife, Betty Brown of Emporium, Pa., then a student at the University. Later, in 1975, their oldest son, Howard, became editor of the Buchtelite. Harry and Betty wrote articles for travel magazines and he wrote for magazines for the blind.

He directed the opinion research for Congressman John Seiberling Jr., during Mr. Seiberling's 16 years in Congress. During his 32-year career at Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., he handled consumer and ad vertising research and sales fore casting. He was one of the first M.B.A.s hired by the company.

He was declared legally blind in 1980, retiring in 1982 as manager of management information. After his retirement, Harry enjoyed some of his most productive years, with the help of his loving family and many friends, especially his son, Howard, who assisted him in many of his projects. In 1982, he used his sports statistician skills to develop computer ratings of college and NFL football teams, which were published by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Akron Beacon Journal, the New York Daily News, and the New York Post. The ratings ap peared in the Post for 11 years through the 2000 season. He developed and began to market a computer baseball game in the mid-80's, which is being used throughout the United States by sight-impaired baseball fans. He made many blind friends all over this country and in several foreign countries, who wrote and phoned to tell how much they enjoyed playing the game. In 1994, Harry's book "The Best and Worst Baseball Teams of All Time" was published by SPI Books of New York City. He updated the book in 2001 with a monograph.

He and his wife, Betty, traveled to 77 countries, all 50 states, and all 10 Canadian provinces and pro duced and showed 30 multimedia travelogues more than 400 times in library branches and to organiza tions in Akron and elsewhere.

He leaves his wife of 53 years, Betty; sons, H. Howard of Akron, Robert L. (Susan) of Edwardsville, Ill., and Thomas B. of Akron; grand daughters, Heather, Christa, and Laura of Edwardsville; and family friend, Kathryn Shafer of Akron. His sister, Mary Frances (Robert) Shaw, of Oklahoma City, died in 1999.

The family would like to thank the staff of Pebble Creek Convalescent Center and the hospice nurses of Visiting Nurse Service for their kind and caring service to Harry.

There will be no calling hours. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., SATURDAY, Dec. 7, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 50 N. Prospect St., Akron, 44304. Pastor David Scharf and Pastor Landis Coffman will officiate. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Trinity Lutheran Church Endowment Fund or the American Brain Tumor Association, 2720 River Rd., Des Plaines, Ill. 60018. Private interment will be at Uniontown Green lawn Cemetery. (Billow FAIRLAWN Chapel, 330-867-4141.)

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