Actually, pg was on the leaderboard for years. But, yes, his name was eventually removed, and while it was on the leaderboard, it was typically the top username by a very wide margin.
Oh, sorry, I was thinking of nickb. :) Thank you for checking the Wayback Machine. I must have been aware of pg's karma totals by looking at his individual profile.
https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=pg