Chick-isms

Chick left this world in August 2002. I heard the news while on vacation at Lake Tahoe, and it first made me very sad on that day. Then I remembered all the games I was fortunate enough to hear him call, and I was happy for all the memories.

In my opinion, Chick Hearn is the greatest pro basketball announcer ever, and he was voted California's sports-caster of the year in February 1995. He had a streak of calling 3,338 consecutive Lakers games, between Nov. 21, 1965 and December 16, 2001. His 3000th consecutive game was Jan 19, 1998.

Here is a biography from the LA Times

In the '50s he was the local sportscaster in Peoria, Illinois, and was the voice of Bradley University and the Peoria Caterpillars. Born Francis Dayle Hearn, the Aurora, Ill., native began his Lakers broadcasting career in 1961.

He has invented many descriptive phrases, called Chick-isms. Also, Chick was the first to describe the distance of a shot in feet. Here is a list and definition for many of them.

Tribute Sites


Game Descriptions

Player Nicknames

Note: not all of these were invented by Chick, but he made the name more well-known.

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Thanks to C.B., Shemp, and several others for helping me remember some of them. If you hear any others, send me some mail.

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Last Updated: Feb 26, 2010

Mike "Lew" Lamar -