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Painting word
pictures is the essence of fine baseball broadcasting.
Fashioning mosaics while calling the fast-paced sport of
professional basketball is another matter. In fact, it is so
unusual, that only one man in the history of the game has
mastered it to the fullest. That man is Chick
Hearn.
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Not only has
Chick developed an inimitable style, he has practiced his
craft more than any other broadcaster in the history of
basketball. Hearn, now in his 39th season of play-by-play,
broadcasted his 3000th consecutive game on January 19th,
1998, a Ripkenian mark that will likely stand for many years
to come.
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Whether it be a
regular season or NBA playoff game, Chick has been there,
missing games only twice since 1961(once due to a canceled
flight and once due to laryngitis). Yet it is not just his
durability and tenacity that have made him a true two-time
Hall of Famer(Chick was inducted into the Basketball Hall of
Fame in May 1991). It is the way he turns basketball
play-by-play into an art form--effortlessly weaving
information and anecdotes that wrap neatly into the inherent
excitement of 48 minutes of fast-paced NBA
action.
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Francis Dayle
"Chick" Hearn began his extensive career in Los Angeles in
1956 broadcasting USC football and basketball. He then
followed with a nightly radio sports show for which he won
two Emmy Awards. Other broadcasts that "Golden Throat" has
graced the airwaves with for nearly 50 years include NCAA
and NFL football, UNLV basketball, PGA golf, the first
Ali-Frazier fight, the Rose Bowl and NBC's Triplecast
coverage of the 1992 gold-medal U.S. Olympic Basketball
"Dream" Team in Barcelona.
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His diligence and
dedication are in large measure responsible for his
seemingly invincible broadcast streak.
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