Hirsch grew up in Brooklyn in an affluent Jewish family. His father ran a successful chain of bowling alleys. Hirsch attended a school of predominantly black students, and he played basketball on the asphalt courts of the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood. His family moved to the Los Angeles district of Van Nuys when he was 14. In his senior year at Van Nuys High School, the center won All-City Co-Player of the Year honors.
College career
After high school, Hirsch attended junior college at Los Angeles Valley College for two years from 1959 to 1961, where he was a two-time All-Metropolitan Conference player. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles as a favor to his father, who promised to quit his five-packs-a-day smoking habit. Hirsch played for the Bruins from 1961 to 1964, starting at forward in his last two seasons. In 1963–64, the Bruins won the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship, coach John Wooden's first title and the beginning of a UCLA dynasty that would claim nine of the next 11 championships. Recognizing Hirsch's defensive skills, Wooden assigned him to their opponent's top player. Hirsch served as co-captain of the team along with Walt Hazzard, and he earned first-team All-AAWU honors that season. In 1994, the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Hirsch has become the least-known member of the starting five from 1963–64." In 1991 he was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.
Coaching career
Former UCLA teammate Hazzard became a head coach, and Hirsch was his top assistant starting at Compton College in 1980 for two years and Chapman College for another two. He followed Hazzard to UCLA in 1984. After Hazzard was fired by the school following the 1987–88 season, Hirsch was reassigned and finished his career at UCLA working as an administrative analyst in the assistant chancellor's office until 1990.
Personal life
Hirsch became a millionaire from the family bowling business. His family had gone into the pornography industry, which he said back in 1984 was "infinitely cleaner" than college recruiting.
