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Former Temple hoops star Hal Lear dies at 81

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Hal Lear, the sweet-shooting guard who starred for the Temple Owls in the 1950s and still holds the school record for points in a season, has died. He was 81.

Lear died at his home in White Plains, New York, on Saturday from a recurrence of prostate cancer and the effects of spinal stenosis, according to his wife, Maggie. He had been retired following a 30-year career at Albert Einstein School of Medicine as an executive administrator of the Department of Psychiatry.

Lear, who played prep ball at Philadelphia's Overbrook High School, scored a school-record 745 points as a senior in the 1955-56 season, and his scoring average of 24.