Game one of the NBA finals was an “unbelievable experience” for a member of Toronto Raptors’ stats crew.
DeMar DeRozan spent some 600 games with the Toronto Raptors, Morris Peterson was with the team for more than 500, but Karl Toulouse has been a part of the team for nearly 900 regular, pre-season, and playoff games.
You won’t find him on the court, but he’s about as close as one can get without being in uniform. Seated in the second row, right by centre court, Toulouse is one of the Toronto Raptors’ official statisticians.
His job, as he describes it, is to “record everything that happens, in detail, during the course of a game.” To do so, Toulouse works as part of a crew of five. Two keep the game's details on computer, another does it with pen and paper, and another calls the game – in a language the team is fluent in.
“If Kyle Lowry makes a three-pointer and is assisted by Pascal Siakam, we would say “field goal made, Raptors 7, lay-up driving, assist 43” explains Toulouse, admitting “it’s a little bit scary that I probably mumble it in my sleep.”
Sleep is something the 51-year-old doesn’t get a lot of. Born and raised in the small southwestern Ontario community of Wallaceburg, he currently lives in London. On game days, he makes the more than two-hour commute to Toronto and back by car and GO train. When he’s not working Raptors games, he does stats for the NBL Canada’s London Lightning, and he volunteers as the manager of the Western University men’s lacrosse team.
Toulouse grew up playing basketball, and tried out for--but didn’t make, the team at Seneca College back in 1989. “I said to the coach at that time, his name was Ernie Armstrong, I said, ‘Coach I know that I didn’t make your cut, I fully understand that but I need to be part of this team.’”Armstrong suggested stats, something Toulouse had only dabbled in previously -- but it soon became a passion that saw him sign on with the Toronto Raptors for their inaugural season in 1995. Twenty-four years later, he credits Armstrong for what he calls his “dream job.”
Along with watching, and recording hundreds of games over the past 24 years, Toulouse has also witnessed changes with the team and its fans, noting “to come this far and to see the successes and the crowd, the momentum... the game is stronger than ever in this country.”
The fans are a big part of what Toulouse enjoys most about his job. Reflecting on the atmosphere inside Scotiabank Arena for game one of the NBA finals, Toulouse said: I’m not sure words can express the high level of energy and just how engaged the fans were with the anticipation of something of this magnitude.”
It’s an energy that he believes hasn’t been felt in Toronto in some time. “I’ve always wondered what it would have been like in ‘67 with the Leafs,” referring to the Toronto Maple Leafs last Stanley Cup win, “now the population is that much more in Toronto and the fan base is massive.”
Toulouse counts himself among the team’s fans, rhyming off the players and plays he’s witnessed over the past quarter-century. But, during the game, his focus is on the job, even when things get exciting on the court. “I record the event like I’m supposed to.There are a lot of little fist pumps, but I’m not going to lie -- when Kawhi hit the shot both of my arms went up and I screamed pretty loud. I wanted to stand up however I had to finish recording the event but I know I was still screaming while I was recording it.”
In Game seven of the Raptors’ series against the Philadelphia 76ers, Toulouse finished his work, before celebrating what he calls “a fadeaway jumper that was of historic proportions.”
Toulouse admits surprise that fans have become increasingly interested in the statistics that he’s responsible for. “On the GO train last night there’s two guys sitting beside me and they’re talking about ‘Well, I wonder what this guy shot’ and ‘Oh yeah, Pascal he was on fire, what do you think he was…was he like 11 of 17’.
“I looked at them and I said I was pretty close… and I pulled out the box score and I showed them,” he said with a laugh, “I honestly thought I was the only geek on the train.”
As for what he thinks will happen with the NBA finals, Toulouse hesitates to make a prediction.
“My heart says Raptors in six, I hope they can do it quicker,” adding that it’s a call he’s making as a fan. As an employee, he’ll work as many games as the team plays -- doing a job he says is “so much fun, I can’t put the fun into words.”
