dtgreene: Is this true in all versions?
advancedhero: Hm, I'm not 100% positive on that. I do know for a fact that it is true for the SNES version. When the CRPG Addict played Wiz 5 on his blog he managed to roll a 43 during his character creation- and this was on the DOS version.
It is possible that the DOS version (and other versions that are sufficiently similar) might cap the bonus points by race, with humans capped at 62 and hobbits at 58, in order to prevent situations like that softlock from occurring. (With that said, however, the softlock isn't particularly serious, as I believe the game auto-saves when you enter the training grounds and after every operation there, so all you would end up losing is the stat roll that caused the softlock.)
By the wa, if you actually want to attempt to create a Lord or Ninja, your best chance of creating one is to use a Hobbit, as their higher luck results in fewer bonus points needed (note that they're the worst choice if you're just trying to make a Samurai, however).
Be aware that, in the SFC/SNES version (but not other versions), such a character won't be as good in the long run as a Gnome, as Gnomes get better STR and VIT while still having enough AGI to (nearly?) always act before the enemies and (i believe) avoid randomly triggering traps when trying to disarm them; with that said, for Ninjas (but not Thieves) 22 AGI (which only a Hobbit can get) will increase the chance of successfully inspecting a trap (but note that CALFO exists). Also, note that what I wrote in this paragraph does not apply to other versions of the game, as other versions don't cap stats based on race.