Laker Heart Skips a Beat

The streak is over. It ends at 3,338 games. It lasted more than 36 years.

Chick Hearn will not be behind the microphone tonight when the Lakers play at Houston. Instead, he’s recovering from heart surgery at Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

The Lakers without Hearn are hard to imagine, even if it is for only six weeks, which is the amount of time Hearn is expected to be sidelined.

So now what?

For one thing, Paul Sunderland has been asked to fill in for Hearn. He was scheduled to take a morning flight to Houston today and will work alongside Stu Lantz tonight and as long as he is needed.

“It’s impossible to replace Chick,” Sunderland said. “I wouldn’t even think to try.

“No one ever replaces someone like Chick Hearn. I’m just keeping the seat warm for him.”

Hearn’s stature in Los Angeles is immeasurable, but he is also respected throughout the NBA and the country.

“He’s one of the pioneers, one of the giants,” Marv Albert said from Houston, where he will work tonight’s Laker game for TNT. “For me, Chick Hearn ranks with Marty Glickman and Johnny Most as the three biggest names ever to announce NBA games. Those three are the ones who inspired me.”

Glickman, former New York Knick announcer, and Most, the legendary Boston Celtic announcer, have both passed on.

“The amazing thing about Chick is he is still around,” Albert said.

It’s believed that Hearn is 85.

The Dodgers’ Vin Scully, another longtime Los Angeles announcer, sees similarities with Hearn.

“We both love what we do,” he said. “For three hours I’m talking about a game I love. It’s terrific, just terrific.

“And I’m sure Chick feels the same way.”

Another similarity Scully sees is fear.

“Fear will drive you, fear of failure, fear of sounding like a horse’s fanny,” he said. “Fear can be a very good thing. I think fear drives both of us.

“I also think Chick has used his streak to drive his engine. He has used it to keep going.

“With Chick and me and a lot of men, after you’ve done something for a major portion of your life, your work becomes your identity. It’s difficult to give up that identity.”

The Kings’ Bob Miller is particularly fond of Hearn.

“He has meant a lot to me because he recommended me for my job,” Miller said from Ottawa, where the Kings play tonight.

“And after I got hired in 1973, he gave me some good advice. He said, ‘Yes, we want the Lakers to win, we want the Kings to win. But we’re not homer announcers. That does not go over in Los Angeles. We do credible broadcasts. When the other team is playing well, we give them credit. When the home team is not playing well, we say so.”’

About the streak, Miller said, “It meant a lot to him. But there were a few nights he probably should not have been working.”

Hearn missed the second half of a playoff game at the Forum on May 12, 1995, and Lantz moved over to play-by-play and Magic Johnson did the commentary.

Last season, Hearn missed the second half of a game at San Antonio, and Derek Fisher filled in as the commentator.

“Our work is not like a desk job where you can say, ‘I’ll sit here and endure,”’ Miller said. “You have to be up, you have to sound good.

“Chick took pride in the streak, as he takes pride in his job. But no streak is as important as being healthy.”

Sunderland is a versatile broadcaster who has done a little of everything. A former U.S. Olympic volleyball team co-captain, Sunderland began doing volleyball commentary for what was then Prime Ticket in 1985.

As a freelancer, he now works for NBC, Fox Sports Net and Turner in a variety of roles, which in recent years has included some basketball play-by-play.

He has been associated with the Lakers as the host of the team’s pregame show on the cable television side for seven seasons.

“One good thing is Stu and I have worked together on three pregame shows this season,” Sunderland said, “and I have a good relationship with Stu.

“We know each other, like each other, and I take a tremendous amount of comfort in knowing I’ll have Stu there with me.”

Of Sunderland, Miller said, “He’s very capable and always prepared for whatever he does. He’ll do fine.”

Today will be a long day for Sunderland. He was planning to do a voice-over on an Olympic feature for NBC this morning, beginning at 8 a.m. NBC rescheduled the session to begin at 4 a.m. so he could catch an 8 a.m. flight to Houston.

“It will be an incredibly memorable day,” he said. “I’ll worry about how long it is later.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Iron Man

Chick Hearn missed two games since assuming his present position in 1961. His streak of 3,338 consecutive games will end tonight when the Lakers play at Houston. A look at some near misses:

*

MARCH 5, 1994

* Broadcasts a game only after hours earlier regaining his voice from a bout with laryngitis.

*

MAY 12, 1995

* He announced the first half of the Laker-Spur playoff game before retiring for the night because of laryngitis.

*

FEB. 21, 2001

* This time in San Antonio, he again stops at halftime and again because of laryngitis.

The Best He’s Ever Seen

Laker play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn’s most memorable games, as listed in the team’s media guide:

Date Opponent: Comment

April 29, 1970 New York: Jerry West’s 60-footer sent playoff game into overtime, but Lakers lost.

May 16, 1980 Philadelphia: Magic Johnson: 42 points, 15 rebounds in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s absence.

June 9, 1987 Boston: Johnson’s baby-hook beats Celtics and leads to another championship.

May 7, 1972 New York: Behind Wilt Chamberlain, Lakers defeat Knicks for first title in Los Angeles history.

Dec. 8, 1961 Philadelphia: Chamberlain scores all-time opponents record 78 points vs. Lakers.