A Touch of Joy Amid the Pain of Dealing With Death of a Son : LARRY STEWART

One of the tragedies of life is losing a son or daughter, and one of the joys of life is the arrival of a grandchild.

Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully experienced both within a two-day span.

The call came on Jan. 20. Michael Scully, 33, a supervising engineer with a subsidiary of Arco, had been involved in a helicopter crash that morning. He was inspecting a crude-oil pipeline that runs from the San Joaquin Valley to Southern California, looking for earthquake damage.

The news was the worst possible. The helicopter had exploded upon impact with the ground. Michael Scully and the pilot were killed instantly.

Scott Loll, a spokesman for Arco, said the helicopter had somehow become entangled in power lines, but the cause of the crash is still being investigated. The crash occurred close to a landing area near Ft. Tejon on the northwest side of the Interstate 5 Ridge Route.

Michael Scully, who had an MBA from Pepperdine, had worked as a civil engineer for ARCO since 1986 and had lived with his wife, Kathy, in Bakersfield since September 1992.

Mike, as he was known, was often described as a “great kid,” and Loll said he was very popular among co-workers.

“The description you heard a lot was, ‘If you didn’t know he was Vin Scully’s son, you’d never guess he was the son of a celebrity,’ ” Loll said. “Those who were close to him say he was proud of his father but he never talked about who he was. He was just a regular guy who was very comfortable with himself.”

That Thursday afternoon, Arco sent a jet to pick up Vin and his wife, Sandy, at Burbank Airport and take them to Bakersfield to be with Kathy and her son, Matthew Vincent Scully, 3. The jet brought them all back to Southern California the next day.

While in the air, Kathy, who was pregnant, went into labor. After the plane arrived in Burbank, she was taken to St. Vincent Hospital, with Vin and Sandy Scully accompanying her. A little later, Chad Michael Scully was born. Although premature, he is doing fine.

Three days after the birth, Kathy Scully attended her husband’s funeral services in Brentwood.

For Vin Scully, it was the second tragedy in less than a year. He lost his friend and colleague, Don Drysdale, July 3.

*

Kerrigan on ice: Two days after being declared fit to skate, Nancy Kerrigan will perform in an exhibition at Northeastern University in Boston tonight, and CBS will show it at 9 p.m. Saturday.

CBS commentator Scott Hamilton will be among those taking part.

Included will be an interview Greg Gumbel taped with Kerrigan.

Kerrigan tells Gumbel she is fine but has some scar tissue and a lump on her knee. She says she is “pretty close” to being back to where she was before the attack.

Asked her reaction to the unfolding story from Portland about Tonya Harding and associates, she says: “I always like mysteries, so it’s kind of like reading a book--you can’t wait to get to the end.”

*

Big-time sport: Suddenly, figure skating is hot. With the Kerrigan exhibition being added to the CBS schedule, all three major networks will be featuring the sport Saturday, with ABC offering two programs.

At 8 p.m., ABC will show “IBM Skates of Gold,” an event taped last October at Boston Garden. It stars past Olympic gold medalists, and even Peggy Fleming takes to the ice for this one.

ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” at 4:30 p.m. will include special performances by the winners of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, including Harding. The exhibitions were taped on Jan. 9.

At 1 p.m., NBC will show highlights of the European Championships held Jan. 18-23 at Copenhagen.

*

Coming back: Attention, Keith Olbermann fans. After a stint at ESPN2, he is returning to ESPN on April 3 and will be reunited with Dan Patrick.

An ESPN spokesman said the Olbermann move was mutually agreed upon.

Also starting on April 3, most of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” shows will be expanded from a half-hour to one hour.

Scott Stuart will replace Olbermann on ESPN2’s “SportsNight.”

*

Different perspective: Britain’s Oxford Television produced a six-hour look at American sports for airing in Britain last spring.

The series, titled “Power Plays,” will be shown on KCET, Channel 28, Monday through Wednesday, 9 to 11 p.m.

Although somewhat outdated, the six one-hour segments are well done. They are more in-depth than most such programs on American television, but the down side is they may be too drawn out.

Michael Jordan is featured in the first segment Monday night, and Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall in the final one Wednesday night. But maybe the best two segments are on Tuesday night--a piece on the sports-agent business and the Norby Walters case, followed by a look at Marge Schott.

TV-Radio Notes

If Tonya Harding ends up not competing at Lillehammer, would CBS consider using her as a commentator? “No,” CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said. “Our announcing team is set.” . . . TNT spokesman Greg Hughes said his network also had no plans to use Harding on its Winter Olympic announcing team. . . . Latest rumor on Howie Long is that he will join TNT on its NFL stadium show, taking a spot formerly held by another former Raider, Ken Stabler. TNT used various guest analysts last season after Stabler decided to devote full time to his restaurant business in Alabama. TNT had no comment on the Long rumor. . . . Long has been a regular on HBO’s “Inside the NFL,” doing a diary segment for the seventh time this season on Thursday’s show.

If you still can’t believe Julio Cesar Chavez lost to Frankie Randall, Showtime will televise last Saturday’s MGM Grand Hotel card tonight at 9:50 and again Saturday at 2:20 p.m. The original five-hour telecast has been edited into 2 1/2 hours. The Razor Ruddock-Anthony Brown undercard 10-rounder gets only 15 seconds. “And that’s 15 seconds too many,” said Jay Larkin, Showtime’s executive producer of sports. . . . USA boxing next Tuesday, delayed at 9 p.m., features Lionel Butler against Jerry Jones from the Country Club in Reseda. Gabriel Ruelas will fight Raul Hernandez in the co-main event.

If anybody cares, ESPN will televise the Pro Bowl from Honolulu Sunday at 5 p.m., with Chris Berman joining Mike Patrick and Joe Theismann in the booth. . . . Maybe more exciting than the game will be the taped coverage of some of the players competing in the Miller Lite Pro Bowl Beach Challenge on ESPN at 2 p.m. Saturday. Events include an obstacle course, a canoe race, volleyball, a relay and a tug-of-war.

CBS has Pebble Beach golf this weekend, but NBC will televise the Nissan L.A. Open from Riviera the following weekend. . . . Last weekend’s Redondo Beach Super Bowl Sunday 10K, taped by Marty Liquori’s production company, will be televised on ESPN Sunday at 9:30 a.m. . . . The Nashville Network will cover the finals of the Chief Auto Parts Winternational drag races at Pomona Sunday at 5 p.m. Joe Benson will file reports for KLOS-FM Saturday. . . . How the mighty have fallen: Joe Garagiola will be host of the USA network’s Westminster Kennel Dog Show coverage Feb. 14-15.

Up-and-comers nominated for Southern California Sports Broadcasters Assn. awards include: football play-by-play--Chris Roberts; radio analyst--Bob Chandler and David Norrie; television analyst--Paul Sunderland, and radio talk show host--Brian Golden. Lee Hamilton and Ross Porter are the other radio talk-show host nominees. Two-time winners Vin Scully and Chick Hearn are among the veterans nominated in nine categories. Winners will be announced at a luncheon Wednesday at Lakeside Golf Club in Toluca Lake.