LOS ANGELES, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Paul Sunderland has joined the Los Angeles Lakers as the team's play-by-play broadcaster. He succeeds the late Chick Hearn.
The Los Angeles Daily News reported Sunderland got a one-year deal worth $300,000.
Sunderland, 56, becomes the second play-by-play voice in franchise history. He served as the team's play-by-play broadcaster for 56 games during the 2001-02 season when Hearn missed time because of a variety of health-related problems, including open-heart surgery and a partial hip replacement.
"I'm very, very happy (to get the job), but it's with mixed emotion," said Sunderland. "I wish I didn't have to take the job under these circumstances. It's life and life goes on, but I'd rather Chick were here."
Sunderland is a familiar face and voice to Los Angeles sports fans. He has served as the host for pregame shows for the Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Dodgers. He also has served as a play-by-play announcer for national NBA telecasts on NBC for several seasons, three Olympic Games for NBC, and a number of other national and international sporting events.
Sunderland is a native of Malibu, Calif., and grew up listening to Hearn.
He played college basketball at the University of Oregon and Loyola Marymount University, and also earned All-American honors in volleyball while attending Loyola.
He played for the U.S. National Volleyball Team from 1975-84, was named the U.S. Player of the Year in 1977, '79 and '82, and was also a member of the U.S. Olympic Volleyball teams in 1976, '80, and the gold medal-winning squad in 1984.
Sunderland will team with Stu Lantz, who will enter his 16th season as the Lakers color commentator in 2002-03.
"I embrace his (Hearn's) legacy, and I will let Chick Hearn be my guide," Sunderland said. "I will do everything in my power to honor him on a nightly basis."
Hearn, the only broadcaster in the Basketball Hall of Fame, died Aug. 5, succumbing to a coma after a fall in the back yard of his home in suburban Los Angeles.
