Lakers Broadcast Fixture Hearn Loses Battle, Dies at 85
Was Voice of Lakers for Four Decades
By PAUL WILBORN
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (Aug. 5) -- Chick Hearn, who made phrases like "slam dunk'' and "air ball'' common basketball expressions during his 42-year broadcasting career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died Monday night. He was 85.
Hearn, the only play-by-play announcer the Los Angeles Lakers ever had, died at 6:30PM PT at Northridge Medical Center Hospital, team spokesman Bob Steiner told a grim-faced news conference outside the hospital.
Hearn was taken to the hospital Friday night after falling and striking his head in the back yard of the Encino home he shared with his wife Marge. The two would have celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on Aug. 13.
Surgeons operated twice on Saturday to relieve swelling in his brain, but he never regained consciousness.
"Chick, we'll miss you dearly. Quite simply, you're the best,'' said Mitch Kupchak, the team's general manager and a former player, his voice breaking.
About 100 fans gathered outside the hospital, and many broke into tears when they heard Hearn had died.
"The city of Los Angeles has lost an incredible icon,'' said former Lakers star Jerry West, now the Memphis Grizzlies president of basketball operations. "For all of the years he's been around as the voice of the Lakers, he helped capture so many special moments for fans everywhere.
"He was a real joy to be around as a person. He certainly helped me appear to be bigger than life. More importantly, he was a true, great friend. I will miss him.''
Hearn called a record 3,338 consecutive Lakers games starting in 1965 before missing a game because he had to have an operation in December 2001 for a blocked aortic valve.
While recovering, he fell and broke his hip.
Despite that setback, he returned to work April 9 and broadcast the Lakers' playoff run to their third consecutive NBA championship.
He became the Lakers' announcer when the team moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles at the beginning of the 1960-61 season.
Hearn's career with the Lakers was far longer than such standouts as West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy and Michael Cooper.
And he was calling games long before current stars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were born.
"There's never going to be another Chick Hearn,'' Johnson said Monday. "He's a man who will be remembered long after. Some people grow bigger than their sport, bigger than their job.''
Johnson said he will remember Hearn for more than what he did in the broadcast booth.
"He didn't just support Magic Johnson for what he did on the court,'' he said. "He supported Earvin Johnson Jr. When I talked to Chick, a lot of times it was hardly about basketball. He was always so proud of me. I would get little notes from him. That would make me feel so good.''
Hearn called his first Lakers game in March 1961. His last game was June 12 when the Lakers beat the New Jersey Nets 113-107 in East Rutherford, N.J., to complete a sweep of the NBA Finals and earn their ninth title since moving from Minneapolis in 1960.
During The Finals, he told the Associated Press he was getting stronger every day and planned to work at least one more season. And he said he believed his call of the Lakers' Game 7 victory over Sacramento in the Western Conference finals might have been as good as any in his career.
As recently as last week, he drove to Las Vegas with his wife to speak at a fantasy basketball camp.
Born Francis Dayle Hearn on Nov. 27, 1916, in Aurora, Ill., Hearn peppered his rapid-fire delivery with terms like "no harm, no foul,'' "the mustard's off the hot dog,'' "ticky-tack foul,'' and "faked him into the popcorn machine.''
Whenever he believed a Lakers victory was clinched, Hearn would say: "You can put this one in the refrigerator. The door's closed, the light's out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard and the Jell-O is jiggling.''
"Generations of fans were brought to the NBA by the voice and vision of Chick Hearn,'' NBA commissioner David Stern said. "Chick was a fixture as the 'Voice of the Lakers' and a legend in his profession.''
Was Voice of Lakers for Four Decades
By PAUL WILBORN
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (Aug. 5) -- Chick Hearn, who made phrases like "slam dunk'' and "air ball'' common basketball expressions during his 42-year broadcasting career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died Monday night. He was 85.
Hearn, the only play-by-play announcer the Los Angeles Lakers ever had, died at 6:30PM PT at Northridge Medical Center Hospital, team spokesman Bob Steiner told a grim-faced news conference outside the hospital.
Hearn was taken to the hospital Friday night after falling and striking his head in the back yard of the Encino home he shared with his wife Marge. The two would have celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on Aug. 13.
Surgeons operated twice on Saturday to relieve swelling in his brain, but he never regained consciousness.
"Chick, we'll miss you dearly. Quite simply, you're the best,'' said Mitch Kupchak, the team's general manager and a former player, his voice breaking.
About 100 fans gathered outside the hospital, and many broke into tears when they heard Hearn had died.
"The city of Los Angeles has lost an incredible icon,'' said former Lakers star Jerry West, now the Memphis Grizzlies president of basketball operations. "For all of the years he's been around as the voice of the Lakers, he helped capture so many special moments for fans everywhere.
"He was a real joy to be around as a person. He certainly helped me appear to be bigger than life. More importantly, he was a true, great friend. I will miss him.''
Hearn called a record 3,338 consecutive Lakers games starting in 1965 before missing a game because he had to have an operation in December 2001 for a blocked aortic valve.
While recovering, he fell and broke his hip.
Despite that setback, he returned to work April 9 and broadcast the Lakers' playoff run to their third consecutive NBA championship.
He became the Lakers' announcer when the team moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles at the beginning of the 1960-61 season.
Hearn's career with the Lakers was far longer than such standouts as West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy and Michael Cooper.
And he was calling games long before current stars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were born.
"There's never going to be another Chick Hearn,'' Johnson said Monday. "He's a man who will be remembered long after. Some people grow bigger than their sport, bigger than their job.''
Johnson said he will remember Hearn for more than what he did in the broadcast booth.
"He didn't just support Magic Johnson for what he did on the court,'' he said. "He supported Earvin Johnson Jr. When I talked to Chick, a lot of times it was hardly about basketball. He was always so proud of me. I would get little notes from him. That would make me feel so good.''
Hearn called his first Lakers game in March 1961. His last game was June 12 when the Lakers beat the New Jersey Nets 113-107 in East Rutherford, N.J., to complete a sweep of the NBA Finals and earn their ninth title since moving from Minneapolis in 1960.
During The Finals, he told the Associated Press he was getting stronger every day and planned to work at least one more season. And he said he believed his call of the Lakers' Game 7 victory over Sacramento in the Western Conference finals might have been as good as any in his career.
As recently as last week, he drove to Las Vegas with his wife to speak at a fantasy basketball camp.
Born Francis Dayle Hearn on Nov. 27, 1916, in Aurora, Ill., Hearn peppered his rapid-fire delivery with terms like "no harm, no foul,'' "the mustard's off the hot dog,'' "ticky-tack foul,'' and "faked him into the popcorn machine.''
Whenever he believed a Lakers victory was clinched, Hearn would say: "You can put this one in the refrigerator. The door's closed, the light's out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard and the Jell-O is jiggling.''
"Generations of fans were brought to the NBA by the voice and vision of Chick Hearn,'' NBA commissioner David Stern said. "Chick was a fixture as the 'Voice of the Lakers' and a legend in his profession.''
