On March 13, 1992, legendary play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn logged his 2,500th consecutive Los Angeles Lakers radio and television broadcast, calling the team’s matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Richfield Coliseum.
The Lakers fell, 109-107, but the night’s spotlight remained on Hearn, whose uninterrupted streak had begun during the 1965 season. His run eventually stretched to 3,338 straight games, ending only when he underwent open-heart surgery during the 2001-02 campaign.
After recovering, Hearn returned to the microphone for the final five regular-season contests and all 19 postseason games as the Lakers captured the 2002 NBA championship.
A three-time National Sportscaster of the Year, Hearn popularized numerous basketball terms—slam dunk, air ball, no-look pass, brick, finger roll—and became renowned for his colorful end-of-game quips involving refrigerators, eggs, and Jell-O.
Hearn’s broadcasting journey started in Manila, where he was stationed after World War II and provided play-by-play for a touring basketball team on the Armed Forces Network. He later moved with the Minneapolis Lakers to Los Angeles, becoming the enduring voice of one of the NBA’s most storied franchises until his death in 2002.
Source: Lakers Nation
