Continuing our countdown of the 20 greatest figures in L.A. sports history, as chosen in voting by our online readers, with No. 7, Chick Hearn.
No. 7 Chick Hearn (57 first-place votes, 3,469 points)
There are three statues representing Lakers icons outside Staples Center. Only two of them are basketball players.
But it speaks to the importance of Chick Hearn that his likeness joins Magic Johnson and Jerry West in bronze perpetuity.
It was the spoken word that made Hearn such a part of Lakers history. He was the team’s only broadcaster in Los Angeles until his death at age 85 in 2002. When the team moved from Minneapolis in 1960, he was instrumental in introducing professional basketball to Southern California sports fans.
He called 3,338 consecutive games, a streak that started in 1965 and ended in December of 2001 after he had heart surgery. His distinctive high-speed delivery and inventive vocabulary made him one of the greatest play-by-play announcers in history.
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