Thousand mourn Chick Hearn

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Friends and family members gathered Friday at St. Martin of Tours Roman Catholic Church in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles to eulogize and honor the memory of legendary Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn.

He died at the age of 85 Monday evening, days after falling on his head in the back yard of his home in nearby Encino.

Hearn underwent two brain operations in the days following the fall, but never regained consciousness after lapsing into a coma.

The highly-emotional service was presided over by Cardinal Roger Mahony, carried live by a number of local media outlets, and attended by a who's who of the sports and entertainment world, including current players Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Brian Shaw, Samaki Walker and Rick Fox; former player Earvin "Magic" Johnson, local politicians, Gov. Gray Davis (R-Cal.), who grew up in Los Angeles, fellow broadcasters like network analyst and former college and NBA star Bill Walton and 15-year partner Stu Lantz; Coach Phil Jackson, actor Jack Nicholson, an avid and lifelong Laker fan, and former player and executive Jerry West, now GM of the Memphis Grizzlies, who said one of the eulogies.

"It occurred to me that, every spring, we had a meteor go over our community," said Mahony, "and that meteor represented Chick Hearn. And it was predictable -- for 42 years, it was predictable."

"When he wasn't on the road, there would be no other place he would be at home -- with my grandmother, and would go everywhere with her," said granddaughter Shannon, a family spokesperson. "Course, that's why she was always happy when the season started."

"Chick was, without a doubt, the most impatient person I ever met -- besides me," West said half jokingly. "People ask me all the time what set Chick apart from all the other broadcasters. I think (long-time Los Angeles Times columnist) Jim Murray said it best, if you look in the program. He was Van Gogh with a brush, but hie did with his mouth. This man was truly unique. There will be others tying to use Chick-SMS and they will fail miserably because they are not Chick."

"Chick, I got one last thing to say to you --we'll never let you go, buddy," said a crying Fox. "You will always be with us. You're the driving force behind us."

"Today, I'm not going to be sad. This man lived for 85 years," said Johnson. "He had the greatest job in the world, as he would always say, and he worked for the greatest organization on earth."

While the service unfolded, thousands more gathered at Staples Center, the Lakers' home court, to honor Hearn, and they saw the many doves that were released in their direction. Many of the mourners also went to Staples, where they were thanked by Marge Hearn, Chick's wife of nearly 64 years.

"I think Chick would have been in awe about what was happening today," she said.

Also attending the funeral mass were former players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Norm Nixon, James Worthy, Walt Hazzard, Michael Cooper, who now is head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, and former player Elgin Baylor, who starred in both Minneapolis and Los Angeles and is now an executive with the L.A. Clippers, Jackson predecessors Randy Pfund, Mike Dunleavy and Pat Riley, who now coaches the NBA's Miami Heat.

"And next spring, should we have a four-peat, should we win the 10th title here in Los Angeles, I am going to go outside and look up in the sky, because I think for the last time we will see the meteor go by, and we will wave so long. This man's in the refrigerator," Mahony said.

Hearn was the team's play-by-play man for each of their world titles in Los Angeles.

Riley, who was Hearn's broadcast partner before becoming the Lakers' coach in the early 1980s, said he looked at him as immortal.

"He was more than just a guy I worked with," Riley said. "A father figure to me for 20 years. I never thought this day would come."

Hearn became just the third broadcaster inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991. His remarkable streak of Lakers' games, which totaled 3,338, began on Nov. 20, 1965. He was a part of nine championships overall.

The streak ended he missed a contest against the Houston Rockets on Dec. 20 to undergo heart surgery to repair a blocked aortic valve.