Many years before the internet and unfinished cable television system emerged, Hollander served as a prolific supplier of encyclopedias on every major sport. At this point, he edited, wrote or packaged around 300 books over a professional career that spanned 45 years.

Born as Alexander Hollander in Brooklyn, New York, he grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens. At age 14, he found his emerging sports ability writing columns for a neighborhood newspaper, and then in high school, he wrote for the Long Island Daily Press and the New York World-Telegram. He later attended Queens College but left to serve in the Army Air Forces, assigned to an Army newspaper in Hawaii. After his discharge, he enrolled at City College of New York but did not graduate.

The heavy workload never really ended for Hollander. In 1955 he founded Associated Features, a company which produced booklets that were distributed with assorted promotional products, but it was not a lucrative enterprise. Even when immersed in several editorial projects, he would occasionally take a freelance shift on the Daily News sports desk.

After a stint with United Press International as an editor in New York, Hollander was hired as a sportswriter by the World-Telegram, originally to cover yachting. Before he committed full-time to his company in the mid-1960s, his day might consist of visiting potential clients and writing on a freelance basis for magazines, followed by phone calls to Western Union so he could meet the World-Telegram midnight deadline. Besides this, he reported for the Associated Press about his stay in the Soviet Union.

🎙️