Up-Close, Personal Approach Works in Big Way for Hill

Jim Hill, a former pro football player, is sometimes criticized for being too close to athletes. On the other hand, his friendships provide access that others don’t have.

Never before has a relationship with an athlete paid off as it did last week for Hill.

He was one of three people granted an interview by Magic Johnson after Johnson’s announcement that he was retiring from the Lakers because he had tested HIV-positive. Arsenio Hall and Sports Illustrated’s Roy Johnson, Magic’s biographer, were the others.

Hill’s interview, taped late Friday afternoon, took up almost all of Channel 7’s “SportsScene” show Sunday night, as well it should have.

The Magic Johnson story, with all its social ramifications, is one of the biggest sports stories ever, and the biggest in Los Angeles since the Dodgers moved here from Brooklyn.

Johnson, as he did on Hall’s show, laughed and smiled during the Hill interview, saying he was simply taking on another challenge.

Hill also had Johnson’s agent, Lon Rosen, in the studio for an update. Rosen reported that Johnson, who has gone into hiding for a couple of weeks, remains as upbeat as ever.

Hill touched on Johnson’s sexuality, an issue only because of the way AIDS is transmitted. But he did not ask what is, unfortunately, a key question: Had Magic ever had a sexual encounter with a man?

What needed to be said, that he hadn’t, came out two days later in an article co-written by Magic Johnson and Roy Johnson for Sports Illustrated.

“I thought he’d pretty much covered that topic,” Hill said later of his interview.

Johnson did tell Hill that he was straight, and that he liked women as much as the next guy. He also denounced earlier stories that claimed he and Isiah Thomas are gay.

Still, even after the Sports Illustrated story, rumors persisted that Johnson is bisexual. But they’re not coming from anyone close to Johnson.

Chick Hearn, in an interview with Prime Ticket’s Randi Hall, said: “I’d stand in front of an onrushing train and let it run over me if the rumors were true. There’s just no way.”

Hearn, reached at his home before heading for Oakland for the Lakers’ game against the Warriors Thursday night, was asked if Johnson’s retirement might mean that he will retire, too.

“You know, Magic called with that same question,” Hearn said. “He called last Thursday night, after the press conference.

“The first thing he did was ask how Marge and I were doing. Can you imagine? That’s just so typical of him.”

Hearn said Johnson brought it up, that the two often had talked about retiring together. “But he told me: ‘Not this way. You stay on.’ I told him: ‘Of course I’m staying.’ ”

And that’s good news. Despite it all, Hearn, recently nominated for another cable television Ace Award, has been as sharp as ever.

“You just have to leave it at the door once the game begins,” Hearn said of his emotional state caused by the illness of his close friend.

During Sunday’s game against Minnesota, Hearn came up with this gem: “There is a Campbell on each team (the Lakers’ Elden and the Timberwolves’ Tony), and up here in the booth is Chick ‘n Stu.”

Similar to what others have said, Hearn summed up the Johnson situation this way: “It’s as if the Lord feels there is a bigger job for him.”

NBC’s Tom Brokaw, appearing on David Letterman’s show Tuesday night, called Johnson courageous.

He’s winning friends everywhere, but there’s one word in his message that many believe has been missing: He should be saying if you have sex, practice safe sex, particularly when talking to young people.

Said Hill: “You know, that is an excellent point. I’m going to tell Magic that the next time we talk.”

Said Hearn: “I think he should always end with the line, ‘Abstinence is the best policy.’ ”

Although CNN was the first to report that Johnson was retiring, radio station KFWB was the first to break the AIDS aspect of the story, although at first it inaccurately reported that Johnson had AIDS, not the virus that causes the disease.

KFWB news director Scott Gorbitz got a tip and sent sports director Randy Kerdoon to the Forum and Loyola Marymount, where the team was practicing. “The Lakers wanted Magic to tell the players, not some reporter,” Kerdoon said.

Kerdoon said Gorbitz worked out a deal with the Lakers, so Kerdoon backed off. Thus, the Lakers confirmed the story for KFWB.

Channel 4 was the first local television station to break the story. Every station in Los Angeles plus Prime Ticket, which went on the air an hour earlier than usual, covered the 3 p.m. news conference.

Not all cable affiliates cleared the Prime Ticket channel in time, and that’s unfortunate. Prime Ticket’s coverage, anchored by Larry Burnett, was as thorough as any.

Prime Ticket wrapped up its coverage by showing a tape of the Lakers’ game against the Dallas Mavericks last April 15, when Johnson broke Oscar Robertson’s NBA assist record.

On that occasion, Johnson cried.

And this comment by James Worthy that night is hauntingly prophetic: “Magic is not only a giver but has the ability to heal.”

TV-Radio Notes

Even though Jim Hill’s interview with Magic Johnson wasn’t heavily promoted, it got Channel 7 a rare ratings edge over Channel 4 for the 11:30 p.m.-to-midnight slot Sunday night. Hill drew a Nielsen rating of 5.9 compared to a 3.1 for Fred Roggin. And Channel 2, which got a solid 7.2 for its 11 o’clock news last Sunday, dropped to a 2.4 for the half-hour opposing Hill. . . . Roggin’s Sunday night sports wrap-up show won the October sweeps period with a 4.9 average, compared to a 3.2 for Channel 7 and a 2.2 for Channel 2.

ABC’s big college game Saturday is Miami vs. Florida State at 9 a.m., with Keith Jackson and Bob Griese reporting. The second half of the doubleheader in 50% of the country is Notre Dame vs. Penn State, but the West gets Oregon vs. UCLA, with Mark Jones and Tim Brant calling the action. A plan to show Notre Dame-Penn State on pay-per-view fell through last week. However, SportsChannel will show the game, delayed, Sunday at 8:30 p.m.

On Nov. 23, the 9 a.m. national telecast on ABC will be Ohio State vs. Michigan, followed by Stanford vs. California at 12:30. The second game will be shown in 92% of the country, with the Northwest and the state of Michigan getting Washington State vs. Washington. Why Michigan? So the folks there can watch Washington, which figures to play the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. . . . The UCLA-USC game the same day at the Coliseum will be televised by Prime Ticket at 3 p.m., with Tom Kelly and Paul McDonald calling the action, and the Prime Network’s Pacific 10 Game of the Week will be Arizona vs. Arizona State at 7 p.m.

The NFL lineup Sunday has Denver at Kansas on Channel 4 at 10 a.m., with Joel Meyers and Dan Hampton reporting, followed at 1 p.m. by the Rams at Detroit on Channel 2, with Verne Lundquist and Dan Fouts as the announcers. The ESPN game at 5 p.m. is Cleveland at Houston. . . . CBS’ Terry Bradshaw, in a taped interview that will be played on Gabe Kaplan’s “Sportsnuts” show on KLAC Monday at 5 p.m., takes some shots at Pittsburgh Steeler Coach Chuck Noll. . . . Buddy Ryan, who does CNN’s NFL preview show Sundays at 8:30 a.m., was a guest of Steve Edwards on KABC’s “Sportstalk” Wednesday and ripped just about everybody. Of Raider quarterback Jay Schroeder, Ryan said: “He’s not someone you can count on to carry your team.”

ESPN opens the college basketball season tonight at 6 with UCLA vs. Indiana in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Springfield, Mass. It’s the first of more than 200 college basketball telecasts on ESPN this season. . . . CBS’ basketball schedule begins with Kentucky vs. Indiana on Dec. 7. . . . Replays from Hollywood Park during its 32-day fall meeting will be carried race days at 8:30 p.m. by Channel 56 and at 12:30 a.m. by Prime Ticket. Bay Area race-caller Michael Wrona is filling in for Trevor Denman, who is taking a three-week vacation. . . . There also will be racing shows on Mondays and Tuesdays, when Hollywood Park is dark. Handicapper Jeff Siegel is both the host and producer of these shows. . . . The World Series highlight video, produced by Major League Baseball Productions, goes on the market next Wednesday. The cost is $19.95. . . . The Evander Holyfield-Francesco Damiani fight on Nov. 23 in Atlanta will be televised by HBO.