LOS ANGELES--Chick Hearn, who made phrases like "slam dunk" and"air ball" common basketball expressions during his 42-yearbroadcasting career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died Monday night.He was 85.
Hearn, the only play-by-play announcer the Los Angeles Lakers everhad, died at 6:30 p.m. Pacific time at Northridge Medical CenterHospital, team spokesman Bob Steiner told a grim-faced newsconference outside the hospital.
Hearn was taken to the hospital Friday night after falling andhitting his head in the back yard of the Encino home he shared withhis wife, Marge. They would have celebrated their 64th weddinganniversary Aug. 13.
Surgeons operated twice 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 intotears when they heard Hearn had died.
"The city of Los Angeles has lost an incredible icon," said formerLakers star Jerry West, the Memphis Grizzlies president of basketballoperations. "For all of the years he's been around as the voice ofthe Lakers, he helped capture so many special moments for fanseverywhere."
Hearn called a record 3,338 consecutive Lakers games starting in1965 before missing a game because he had to have an operation inDecember 2001 for a blocked aortic valve. While recovering, he felland broke his hip. Despite that setback, he returned to work April 9and broadcast the Lakers' playoff run to their third consecutive NBAchampionship. Throughout his career, Hearn refused to call in sick.He came to work a couple of times with laryngitis that forced him tosit out the second half.
A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and the AmericanSportscasters Hall of Fame, Hearn received a standing ovation on his85th birthday in November during a Lakers-Milwaukee Bucks game.
He became the Lakers' announcer when the team moved fromMinneapolis to Los Angeles at the beginning of the 1960-61 season.
Hearn's career with the Lakers was far longer than such standoutsas West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy and Michael Cooper. And he wascalling games long before current stars Shaquille O'Neal and KobeBryant were born.
"There's never going to be another Chick Hearn," Johnson saidMonday. "Some people grow bigger than their sport, bigger than theirjob."
Hearn called his first Lakers game in March 1961. His last gamewas June 12 when the Lakers beat the New Jersey Nets 113-107 in EastRutherford, N.J., to complete a sweep of the NBA Finals and earntheir ninth title since moving from Minneapolis in 1960.
During the finals, he told The Associated Press he was gettingstronger and planned to work at least one more season. He said hebelieved his call of the Lakers' Game 7 victory over Sacramento inthe Western Conference finals might have been as good as any in hiscareer. Last week, he drove to Las Vegas with his wife to speak at afantasy basketball camp.
Born Francis Dayle Hearn on Nov. 27, 1916, in Aurora, Hearnpeppered his rapid-fire delivery with terms like "no harm, no foul,""the mustard's off the hot dog," "ticky-tack foul," and "faked himinto the popcorn machine."
CHICK'S verbal legacy
Chick Hearn didn't invent basketball, but he had a lot to do withhow the game is described. Highlights from Hearn's basketballdictionary:
SLAM DUNK: Originated to describe the powerful dunks of WiltChamberlain.
NO HARM, NO FOUL: There was a foul but no blood, so the ref let itslide.
THE MUSTARD COMES OFF THE HOT DOG: He tried to get too flashy andgot burned.
WORD'S-EYE VIEW: How he paints the game for the listener.
HE FAKES HIM INTO THE POPCORN MACHINE: Replaced faked out of hisjockstrap.
SKYHOOK: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's high-arching hook shot.
YO-YOS UP AND DOWN: Dribbling while bopping the body.
SHOWTIME: How he described the Lakers' style in the '80s.
THE GAME IS IN THE REFRIGERATOR: It's as good as over.
HE SHOOTS AN AIR BALL: It missed everything.
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