CHICK HEARN IS DEAD

CBS ^ | 07/05/2002 | SELF

[kellynla]

CHICK HEARN IS DEAD. GOD BLESS THE BEST BASKETBALL ANNOUNCER THAT EVER LIVED.

[Mr. Mojo]

Yep, Chick knew that Horry was clutch (even if other Laker fans didn't). Anyone who saw the Houston Rockets' runs through the '94 and '95 playoffs knew that Horry liked crunch time.

[Euro-American Scum]

I can't remember a Laker game that Chick Hearn did not do. Even when he wasn't there, he was. In a way, I'm glad he didn't linger. I'm glad he wasn't forced to the sideline, to spend his remaining years watching the Lakers on television, announcing the game in his head, unable to participate, only able to watch. I'm glad his last Laker game was a Laker NBA title clincher.

I'm glad he went out a winner.

[Mr. Mojo]

Bowling for Dollars bump.

LOL....Man was that weird when I first saw Chick doing that horrible show (wasn't it around '77 or '78?). Chick was easy to read, and I could tell he wasn't enjoying that gig one bit.

[ErnBatavia]

Hearn received a standing ovation on his 85th birthday in November during a Lakers-Milwaukee Bucks game.

...And he's getting another tonight.

[socal_parrot]

I'm sure you know, but some may not, that Chick was the Lakers' VP of Player Relations for some time. In 1982, the Lakers left it up to him to choose between James Worthy, Terry Cummings and Dominique Wilkins for the first pick in the NBA Draft. Chick chose Worthy. I think you'd be hard pressed to find an announcer that had the effect on a sport the way Chick did. Slam dunk, air ball, leaping leana, finger roll, sky hook are just a few everyday basketball terms that Chick coined.

[kstewskis]

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.''

So many times we'd hear that! Such a shock to come home to tonight...He was doing so well after his aortic surgery earlier in the year, and now, a fall. God Bless Chick Hearn! I grew up listening to him, he will be missed.

[ambrose]

bump!

[BluesDuke]

LOL....Man was that weird when I first saw Chick doing that horrible show (wasn't it around '77 or '78?).

Weirder: Vin Scully hosting a game show - NBC's It Takes Two, 1969-71. Classic moment: A black sedan that was used as a film prop (a mob rubout scene featuring George Raft) was rolled on stage, with Scully to open the trunk and find the correct answer to a question on bootlegging. Aided and abetted by members of the Laugh-In cast, who worked in the same studios in Burbank, Scully opened the trunk at the apportioned time - the trunk wasn't visible to the studio audience - and practically lost all colour when a nude redhead featured in a recent Playboy appeared in the trunk when he opened it. "Vin," said a TV Guide story about the prank, "was speechless. His first impulse was to remove his coat and cover the lady, which, you must admit, is a knightly enough thought; but he realised this would stir suspicion among the audience. Nervously, he lifted the answer from the trunk and closed it. The plotters watching from the wings roared.

Scully did the show (and an even shorter-lived talk show) because he got an itch to see what he could do beyond baseball. Thankfully, the itch dissipated within two years.

[BluesDuke]

I think you'd be hard pressed to find an announcer that had the effect on a sport the way Chick did.

I had heard about his VP job some time back and was told of the James Worthy call. A rather splendid one at that, but Hearn had at least the grace of objective judgment. I have also read in places that, in his years with the St. Louis Cardinals, Harry Caray was said to have had a little too much pull so far as whom the Cardinals kept or dumped, and that enough of it came as much from personal likes or grudges as baseball judgement: if you got on Harry's bad side in those years, you could all but kiss your Cardinal career goodbye even if you were one of the league's top players.

[hole_n_one]

I had the video of Horry's last second shot on my hard drive, but alas, I failed to record the audio.

That's the bad news.......the good news is that I just uploaded these 4 small mpeg clips of Chick doing his thing, like nobody else ever did..........

Kareem

Jordan

Magic

Shaq

[Russell Scott]

Some of my earliest childhood memories was listening to Chick call Laker games in the Jerry West - Elgin Baylor era. Quite simply the best radio play-by-play announcer ever. The Lakers will never be quite the same without him. Its so great he went out with the Lakers winning their third straight. God speed Chick, "the eggs are cooling, the jello is jiggling, the lights are out, and door of your refrigerator is closed" until we meet again in eternity. I never meet you, but I sure do know you. See you soon dear friend, with a new body to match your eternally youthful spirit.

[socal_parrot]

Good clips, especially the Magic clip, "running sky-hook!" The Kareem one is cool too, but oh those shorts!!

[hole_n_one]

See reply #50 and click on the Jordan link.

I did that one especially for you.

LOL!

[BenLurkin]

Good-bye Chick . . . and . . .thanks, old friend.

[ladyinred]

HUH?

[hole_n_one]

I think I may have the wrong lady......

maybe it's the one in blue?

[ladyinred]

maybe it's the one in blue?

Must be! I am the ladyinred who usually wears pink, and has no idea what Jordan has to do with me! LOL
I have never even had a pair of his shoes!

[Rev DMV]

Thanks for the clips, nothing like Showtime and Chick.

[hole_n_one]

LOL!

I'm such an idiot....

[PRND21]

Sad bump from L.A.