Another Setback for Hearn

Chick Hearn, the Lakers’ legendary announcer, suffered a broken hip in a mishap at a gas station Sunday night and is scheduled for surgery today at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Sherman Oaks.

Although details were unclear, Hearn apparently fell as he was getting out of his car. Paramedics were called to the scene and Hearn was transported to Valley Presbyterian.

Hearn and his wife, Marge, were on their way out to dinner.

“It’s very, very devastating news,” Hearn’s broadcast partner, Stu Lantz, said Monday.

Hearn broke the femoral neck, a Laker spokesman said. A two-hour procedure, to be performed by orthopedic surgeon Herbert Huddleston, is scheduled for 4 p.m. today.

It’s expected that Hearn will have the ball of the hip replaced, although hospital spokesperson Lisa Bianconi said that was not definite. She called the surgery exploratory.

A news conference will be held today after the surgery, when more will be known about the operation and the length of recovery. Hearn is expected to be hospitalized for a week.

If he has the ball replaced, it is not clear how long the recovery would be. Patients who have had full hip replacement say the recovery period is three to six months, and that the surgery is particularly tough on older patients. Hearn turned 85 in November.

Hearn, the only play-by-play announcer the Lakers have had since they moved to Los Angeles from Minneapolis in 1960, has been recovering from heart surgery and planned to return to work March 1 for a home game against Indiana.

“We were all looking forward to March 1,” Lantz said. “It’s just not a Laker broadcast without Chick. It’s just not the same.”

Laker players learned of Hearn’s injury at practice Monday.

Shaquille O’Neal, expected to make his return against the Boston Celtics at Staples Center tonight, called Hearn “the original Superman.”

“When he gets done with the surgery, it wouldn’t surprise me if he tries to come back with a hip cast,” O’Neal said.

He may have a point. Hearn was said to be negotiating with the nurses at Valley Presbyterian to be released sooner than a week.

O’Neal also said, “We love you Chick. Take your time coming back.”

Derek Fisher said, “You have a lot of respect for someone who comes to work every day, no matter their age--whether you’re 18 or 88, whether you’re feeling good or feeling bad.

“Chick absolutely made that type of commitment and earned people’s respect. That’s why it’s hard that he’s been out so long. We just want him to be healthy.”

Hearn worked 3,338 consecutive games over 36 years before the streak was ended by his heart surgery.

“Chick Hearn and Laker basketball are synonymous,” Lantz said. “We’re just holding down the fort.”

Paul Sunderland has been filling in since Hearn had heart surgery on Dec. 19.

“This is very, very sad,” Sunderland said. “It’s a real shame. First, it’s devastating for Chick personally. And it has got to be devastating for Marge, maybe even more devastating than the heart surgery. I can’t tell you how badly I feel for them.”

The versatile Sunderland cleared his busy schedule once he was asked to fill in for Hearn. Besides his NBA duties for NBC, Fox Sports Net and Turner, he was also scheduled to announce snowboarding at the Winter Olympics for NBC.

Sunderland said the Lakers still get precedence.

“I made a commitment to the Lakers that I would fill in as long as necessary,” he said.

Susan Stratton, Channel 9’s longtime executive producer of Laker telecasts and a close friend of the Hearns, said she talked with Marge Sunday night.

“She was very upset, and she is usually such a strong person,” Stratton said. “She said Chick was very depressed.”

Stratton said Marge told her she had made dinner and that she and Chick were planning to stay home Sunday night.

But after watching the Lakers lose to Portland that afternoon, Hearn told Marge he was upset and wanted to go out.

They stopped for gas on their way to dinner.

“This is just awful. Everything was coming together for them,” Stratton said. “Chick was as happy and up as he has been in quite a while.

“Then this has to happen to him.”

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Staff writer Steve Springer contributed to this story.