[Deathwatch] Chick Hearn, Voice of the L.A. Lakers, 85

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Chick Hearn, Voice of the L.A. Lakers, Dies at 85
Mon Aug 5,11:05 PM ET
By Gina Keating 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Colorful Los Angeles Lakers sportscaster Chick
Hearn, creator of such now standard basketball phrases as "slam dunk,"
"air ball" and "dribble drive," died on Monday at age 85 just days
after suffering a head injury in a fall, officials said. 

Bob Steiner of the Lakers said Hearn died at 6:30 p.m. at Northridge
Hospital Medical Center three days after taking a fall at his home and
hitting his head. 

"The family is doing well and is very thankful that Chick has not
suffered over these past several days. They are also thankful that he
is now in God's hands," Steiner said. 

Hearn underwent two operations on Saturday for intracranial bleeding.
He developed pneumonia and gastrointestinal problems after the surgery
and his condition was downgraded from critical to grave on Monday
morning. 

Dr. Asher Taban, who performed the surgery, said that even if Hearn had
survived, he had probably called his last game. 

"Under the best of circumstances he will have some trouble expressing
himself or talking well," Taban said at a news conference following the
second operation on Saturday. 

An icon long before his death, Hearn was known for coining colorful
lingo to convey the twists and turns of the game he loved. 

"Slam dunk," "air ball," "no harm, no foul," and "the mustard's off the
hotdog" were among Hearn's spur-of-the-moment verbal inventions. He
created the term "boo birds" for fans who boo their own team when they
play badly and "dribble drive" for a player who drives to the basket
while dribbling. 

Hearn started with the Lakers in 1961, shortly after the team moved to
Los Angeles from Minneapolis. He called play-by-play in an
uninterrupted streak of 3,338 games beginning in November of 1965 and
ending on Dec 16, 2001 when he underwent open heart surgery. 

Hearn narrated the unfolding careers of such Laker greats as Jerry
West, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, and took
the team to nine National Basketball Association titles. 

He became only the third sports announcer to be inducted into the
Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992, and was a member of the American
Sportscasters Hall of Fame. 

Hearn's final hospitalization on Friday was his third this year and the
end of a string of health problems that seemed to start after his heart
surgery to replace an aortic valve. 

Although he expected to be back in front of the mike six weeks after
his surgery, Hearn fell at a gas station in February and broke his hip,
which required another two-week hospitalization. 

He returned to the announcer's both in April, just in time to gab the
Lakers through their third NBA championship in as many years. 

In one of his last public appearances, Hearn accepted recognition for
his lifetime achievements at the 54th annual Los Angeles Area Emmy
Awards. 

His longtime broadcast partner, Stu Lantz said Hearn was "like a father
to me." 

"He's one of the most remarkable men I've ever known," Lantz said. 

Francis Dayle Hearn was born in 1915 and raised in a small town outside
Chicago. The 6-foot, 3-inch Hearn acquired his nickname, originally
"Chickie Baby," as the result of a prank played on him by a friend who
had offered to buy him a new pair of basketball shoes for the pickup
games he played. 

The friend handed him a shoebox, but instead of shoes, the box held a
dead chicken. 

He served in the military during World War II and, upon his return from
the Philippines, took a job as a news and sports announcer in his
hometown, Aurora, Illinois. He eventually moved up to college sports,
and caught the eye of TV network executives. 

Hearn came to Los Angeles in 1956 as the voice of the University of
Southern California's football and basketball teams. That led to a
nightly radio sports show which got him a job with the Los Angeles
Lakers and won him two Emmy Awards. 

Throughout his career, Hearn called a range of college sports as well
as such high-profile events as the first Ali-Frazier fight and the 1992
U.S. Olympic basketball games and the Tournament of Roses parade. 

Hearn also was the longtime host of a local version of the 1960s TV
game show "Bowling for Dollars" and appeared in dozens of movies and TV
shows as himself or a sports commentator. 

Hearn is survived by Marge, his wife of 64 years