Tough Act to Follow

It is two days after the death of Chick Hearn. It is two days before he will be eulogized on Friday in a private ceremony that will be telecast to the public.

Laker and broadcast officials are not ready to address something they have not had to consider since the team moved here from Minneapolis in 1960.

They are going to have to find a replacement for the only play-by-play announcer the Los Angeles Lakers have ever had.

“That subject is not on the immediate radar screen for the Lakers,” team spokesman Bob Steiner said Tuesday. “We know it’s an important decision and it will be given all the consideration it deserves, but at the appropriate time.”

Channel 9 station manager Pat McClenahan said, “There’s no way to ever try and duplicate what Laker telecasts were like with Chick Hearn. Whoever the replacement is, that person is not going to be Chick Hearn.

“When the time is appropriate, the Lakers will start the process and we will be part of that process. We will work with the Lakers to find the best possible replacement for the best announcing job in the NBA.”

The Lakers hire the announcers, who have always been paid by the team, but their broadcast partners are asked for input.

Steve Simpson, general manager of Fox Sports Net, and Robin Bertolucci, program director at Laker flagship radio station KLAC (570), declined to discuss the issue of a replacement for Hearn at this time.

The Lakers and their broadcast partners will have to find two replacements for Hearn, who has always announced games for both radio and television, a practice called simulcasting.

The Lakers will no longer simulcast. There will be separate announcing teams for radio and television.

Paul Sunderland substituted for Hearn when he missed 56 games last season because of heart surgery and a subsequent hip surgery. Sunderland’s work was generally well-received, and he is considered a front-runner for the television play-by-play job, presumably alongside Stu Lantz.

“I’m not thinking anything about that situation,” Sunderland said Tuesday. “I have just lost someone very important in my life in Chick Hearn, someone I admire as much as anyone in the world. That is all I am thinking about.”

Sunderland, who works for NBC and Fox Sports Net, was called in on a day’s notice to replace Hearn. At the time, Channel 9 executives felt slighted because they weren’t consulted.

But McClenahan, as well as his boss, Don Corsini, had no complaints about the job Sunderland did.

Another candidate for a play-by-play position with the Lakers is Joel Meyers, a Southern Californian who has announced San Antonio Spur games on cable TV in recent years and is currently a radio announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals. He has replaced the late Jack Buck.

Many others have expressed interest, and it has been learned that candidates or their agents have already begun applying.

“The job of announcing for the Lakers is a gem, one of the most desired jobs in the league,” said George Blaha, who has been with the Detroit Pistons for 26 years.

“I think there are only two reasons someone wouldn’t want that job.

“One is, they wouldn’t want to try and follow in Chick Hearn’s footsteps. The second is, they’re happy where they’re at.”

Blaha said he falls into the second category. “I’m a native of Michigan and I don’t think there is any job that would pry me away from the Pistons,” he said.

Longtime Clipper announcer Ralph Lawler said he too is happy where he is and added, “I wouldn’t want to walk in the shoes of the guy who has to fill Chick’s shoes.” But Lawler realizes a lot of announcers, particularly young ones, would jump at the chance.

“I think some people will covet the Laker job,” he said. “They’ll be coming out of the woodwork. They’ll mostly be minor league and college announcers. Those guys will do anything to get the job.

“But I think most guys in the NBA now would be hesitant to take that job.”

Another NBA announcer disagreed. “I think there are 10 to 15 announcers in the league who would jump at that job.”

The position of TV play-by-play announcer is particularly important going into next season because under the NBA’s new TV contract there will be no cable blackouts.

That means Laker telecasts on Channel 9 and Fox Sports Net will often be competing with ESPN or TNT telecasts. Having Hearn would have given the Lakers a needed edge.

Ideally, the Lakers and their broadcast partners would like to find a marketable name. And that won’t be easy. The job doesn’t come close to paying what a network job pays.

Hearn reportedly was making about $500,000 a year, although as Blaha pointed out, “Chick was worth millions to the franchise.”

The new Laker announcers would figure to make about $300,000 for TV and $200,000 for radio, based on what other NBA announcers make in major markets.

Getting a big name won’t be easy.

Dick Enberg, who lives in La Jolla, said Tuesday he would not be interested in the job, even on a limited basis. He worked 40 games for the Angels in 1985, the team’s 25th year, and said that did not go well.

“Even though I worked only 40 games, I had to keep up with the team as though I were working every game,” he said. “But I was still missing most of the games, and that made it hard to do.”

Al Michaels, a longtime Southern Californian, said, “Even if I were interested, my contract with ABC would not allow me to announce Laker games.”