Chick Hearn

The entire community of Hollywood Forever joins the people of Los Angeles in mourning the death of Chick Hearn, legendary broadcaster for the Los Angeles Lakers. Beyond being beloved and revered amongst sports fans, Hearn was a man of integrity, grace, and unmatched verbal style.

He was born Francis Dayle Hearn, on November 27, 1916, in Aurora, Illinois. He attended Bradley University, and played basketball as a student. It was when he was an AAU basketball player, that he was given the nickname of “Chick,” as the result of a prank played on him by fellow players: he was handed a box of sneakers one day, only to find a chicken inside. The moniker was thus awarded, and stuck.

Hearn was a broadcaster in Peoria, Illinois, when he joined the new Los Angeles Lakers (when the team moved from Minneapolis) for the 1960-61 season. He was their on-air commentator ever since. He called his first Lakers game in March 1961; his final game, on June 12, 2002, saw the Lakers win their third straight NBA title, and their ninth title since moving from Minneapolis. In that span, Hearn earned places in both the Basketball and American Sportscasters Halls of Fame. In a feat that might never be matched, Hearn called a record 3,338 consecutive Lakers games: the streak began on November 21, 1965, at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, and ended in December 2001, due to surgery to clear a blocked aortic valve. While recovering, Hearn, 85, fell and broke his hip, but he returned to the booth on April 9, 2002, to broadcast the Lakers’ playoff run towards their eventual third world championship. During his career, Hearn refused to call in sick, working some times with laryngitis; his streak would have eclipsed the 3,338 games, save for one game missed because bad weather grounded his flight.

Beyond his record for dependability and longevity, Hearn brought to the sports broadcasting arena an unparalleled command of the English language: he romanced the lexicon in splendid fashion, creating a number of terms that, if not standards, are a part of basketball legend. He coined the term “Air Ball” for a total net miss – now universally used by fellow broadcasters – and peppered his exemplary delivery with such “Chick-isms” as “The mustard’s off the hot dog,” “No harm, no foul,” “Faked him into the popcorn machine,” and the unique Laker victory call, “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.”

Hearn, besides his inclusions in the Halls of Fame, was awarded a star along Hollywood’s Walk of Fame (at 6755 Hollywood Boulevard), and had the press room at Staples Center named after him in 1999. Long known for hiding his age, Hearn was once asked how old he was, and chuckled in response, “I don’t know. I lost my birth certificate.”

Hearn made a kind of second career out of guest appearances on television programs and feature films. He appeared, as a commentator or announcer, on episodes of such programs as The Fugitive (1963), My Favorite Martian (1963), Gilligan’s Island (1964), Nanny and the Professor (1970), The Simpsons (1989), Arli$$ (1996), and Dharma and Greg (1997), and in such feature films as The Loved One (1965), The Love Bug (1968), Fletch (1985), Big Business (1988), White Men Can’t Jump (1992), and Wrongfully Accused (1998).

Hearn and his wife, Marge, were married on August 13, 1938, and were eight days away from celebrating 64 years of marriage. The couple had two children, a son, Gary, who died at age 27 in 1972, and a daughter, Samantha, who died in 1991 at age 41.

Chick Hearn fell and struck his head on Friday, August 2, in the backyard of their Encino home; at age 85, he was moving a planter by the pool. He was immediately hospitalized, and operated on twice to relieve swelling in his brain, but never regained consciousness. He died, at 6:30pm, on Monday, August 5, 2002, at Northridge Medical Center, with his family by his side.

The Forever family extends its deepest sympathies to the Hearn family, as well as to the Los Angeles Lakers organization. The universal love and respect felt for Chick Hearn is immense, and his was a life well spent, and enjoyed by many. A legendary voice may have been stilled, but the memories and the moments, which Hearn shared with us all, will be most delightfully and lovingly remembered … forever.