- Had only missed two Laker games, both times due to poor weather.
- His widow, Marge Jeffers, was his high school sweetheart.
- Hearn began his career covering Bradley University (which he attended), and the Peoria Caterpillars basketball team. He moved to Los Angeles in 1956 to announce football and basketball games for the University of Southern California. He was hosting a popular daily radio sports show when the Lakers, who had moved from Minneapolis in 1960, asked him to join their new broadcast team during the 1961 NBA playoffs.
- Would jokingly claim to have lost his birth certificate whenever he was asked how old he was.
- Coined the terms "slam dunk", "air ball" and "no harm, no foul".
- Long-time play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers.
- Host of the television game show Bowling for Dollars (1972).
- His son, Gary Hearn, died of a drug overdose on June 1, 1972. His daughter, Samantha Hearn, died of pneumonia May 24, 1991, brought on by anorexia.
- Received his nickname while, as an amateur basketball player, he was handed a box of sneakers only to be surprised to find a chick inside.
- Inducted into the National Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.
- Recipient of the Curt Gowdy Award (awarded to members of the electronic and print media for outstanding contributions to basketball by the Basketball Hall of Fame) in 1992.
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Radio at 6755 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on September 24, 1986.
- Following his death, he was interred next to his children, Gary Hearn and Samantha Hearn, at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content