Mary Jo
08-05-2002, 09:10 PM
<font color=navy>It was just announced that long-time announcer for the Lakers, Chick Hearns, passed away this afternoon.
Chick Hearns was a sports newscaster for a Los Angeles television station in 1961 when Los Angeles Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke asked him to announce Laker games. The rest is history. Hearns has been the play-by-play sportscaster for the Los Angeles Lakers since then. In fact, he has been the only sports announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers. Hearns announced 3,338 consecutive Laker games until he was forced to be absent for the December 20, 2001 game due to heart surgery. Although he has had to bow out of a few games halfway through, Hearns had not missed a single Laker game since November 20, 1965.
Chick Hearns was the first to use such basketball terms as "slam dunk," "air ball," "dribble drive," "finger roll," "garbage time," "give and go," "matador defense," "no-look pass," and "picked his pocket."
Chick Hearns was a sports newscaster for a Los Angeles television station in 1961 when Los Angeles Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke asked him to announce Laker games. The rest is history. Hearns has been the play-by-play sportscaster for the Los Angeles Lakers since then. In fact, he has been the only sports announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers. Hearns announced 3,338 consecutive Laker games until he was forced to be absent for the December 20, 2001 game due to heart surgery. Although he has had to bow out of a few games halfway through, Hearns had not missed a single Laker game since November 20, 1965.
Chick Hearns was the first to use such basketball terms as "slam dunk," "air ball," "dribble drive," "finger roll," "garbage time," "give and go," "matador defense," "no-look pass," and "picked his pocket."