Chick Hearn has probably called his last game, doctor says
By ANDREW BRIDGES
Associated Press Writer
August 3, 2002
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Longtime Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn has probably called his last game, his neurologist said Saturday after performing surgery for brain hemorrhaging.
``If he has a full recovery in terms of his motor functions he will very likely have speech difficulty, so I will foresee that he will have a difficulty to be announcing,'' the neurologist, Dr. Asher Taban, told reporters outside Northridge Hospital Medical Center.
Asked if the 85-year-old Hearn had called his last game, Dr. Taban said, ``unfortunately it's probable.''
Hearn was taken to the hospital from his San Fernando Home around 8 p.m. Friday after neighbors saw him fall in his backyard and called 911.
When he arrived at the hospital doctors found a hemorrhage inside his cranium, on top of the brain, Taban said.
He underwent surgery and when the operation was completed around 2 a.m. Hearn's condition appeared more stable.
But around 9 a.m. Saturday his neurological condition began to deteriorate and another blood clot was found, this one inside the brain, Taban said.
``This created a major brain shift, which is usually not compatible with survival,'' the doctor said.
Hearn underwent a second operation, which was completed around 3:30 p.m., shortly before Taban spoke to reporters.
Apparently, the second hemorrhaging was brought on by blood thinners that Hearn had been taking since undergoing heart surgery last year.
Taban said the pressure on the brain is under control but will be monitored. He was asked about Hearn's prognosis.
``It's not good,'' he said, shaking his head. ``I do have a major concern because of his age and because of the thinning of his blood.''
It wasn't clear what caused Hearn to fall, but doctors did not believe he suffered a stroke, according to Bob Steiner, a spokesman for Lakers owner Jerry Buss.
The voice of the Lakers since the team moved to Los Angeles four decades ago, Hearn is credited with adding such signature phrases as ``slam dunk'' and ``air ball'' to the NBA lexicon.
He called a record 3,338 consecutive Lakers games over 36 years, but saw his streak end last season when he had to undergo heart surgery to repair a blocked aortic valve. The broadcaster suffered a further setback when he fell during rehabilitation and broke a hip.
Still, Hearn was able to return to the Lakers in time to broadcast the team's run through the playoffs to its third consecutive NBA championship.
Hearn and his wife, Marge, are expecting to celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary on Aug. 13, Steiner said. Hearn's wife and a granddaughter were at his side Saturday, and Steiner said Marge was ``doing amazingly well, all things considered.''
``They're concerned but they're supporting each other,'' said Rev. Monsignor Carl Bell, pastor of St. Cyril of Jerusalem Church in Encino, whom Marge Hearn called to the hospital to pray with the family.
Lakers players and fans wished Hearn well.
``It's really unfortunate to hear bad news, especially with Chick because he's so spirited about being a part of the Lakers family and people don't identify the Lakers without Chick,'' Lakers guard Derek Fisher told KCAL-TV.
The only play-by-play announcer the Lakers have had since moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles for the 1960-61 season, Hearn peppers his rapid-fire delivery with such colorful terms as ``no harm, no foul,'' ``the mustard's off the hot dog,'' ``ticky-tack foul,'' and ``faked him into the popcorn machine.''
During his 42 seasons with the Lakers, his unique ``words-eye view'' has provided the soundtrack for nine NBA championships -- one with Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain in the 1970s, five with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1980s, and the last three with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.
Whenever he believes a Lakers victory is imminent, he is known to 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.''
) to report that Chick is in surgery again. 2nd hemorrage now found. Chick had surgery already for one and survived that one, but is in surgery again.
