Columnist Ron Kantowski: Chick had love affair with UNLV, Las Vegas

Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2002 | 9:13 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's insider notes column appears Tuesday and his Page One column appears Thursday. He can be reached at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Fabled Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn spent his last days at a Las Vegas fantasy basketball camp which was perhaps appropriate, given his fondness for this town and that game, said a Las Vegan who had the pleasure to know him.

"The guy really loved this town and UNLV -- he was here as recently as last week," said Jim Gemma, the former Rebels' basketball sports information official who became friends with Hearn during the 1980s, when the Hall of Fame broadcaster called UNLV games for several L.A. television stations.

"Every time the Lakers played somebody with a player from UNLV, Chick would play it up. He made it a point to say that guy was a Runnin' Rebel. You can't put a price on that kind of publicity."

Likewise, Gemma's memories of working with Hearn, who died Monday night at age 85 after suffering a fall in his suburban Los Angles home on Friday, are priceless.

UNLV was so proud of its association with Hearn that one year it put his picture on the cover of its basketball media guide. Gemma has Hearn's autograph on one of those covers, but one his fondest memories came a couple of years ago when Hearn was in Las Vegas to call one of the many Lakers exhibition games at the Thomas and Mack Center.

"The past couple of years he was having trouble walking ... so when they asked if somebody could drive him down the (arena) ramp on the golf cart (from the TV production trailer), I said I'd love to do it," Gemma recalled. "That was really a thrill for me.

"He was my idol. Everything I learned about basketball, I learned from him, growing up as a Lakers fan. Then to get a chance to know him was unbelievable."

Gemma said he usually had dinner with Hearn in the Thomas & Mack press room when the Lakers would make their annual visit.

"Every time he came to town, he remembered my name," Gemma said. "When I would go to Lakers games he would always leave me tickets -- sometimes even his tickets. One time, I even sat with Marge (Hearn's wife of 63 years).

"Chick was great. The guy was a legend, but he had no ego."

The gas bags that run the series are no more put off by sophomoric behavior than a football coach when two linemen trade punches in training camp.

Controversy sells tickets, and while selling tickets is hardly NASCAR's problem, it helps keep the sport front and center between races.

Stewart was last seen trying to rearrange the grill of a persistent freelance photographer in Gasoline Alley. Earlier, Busch and Spencer waged another installment of 200-mph tag, with the Las Vegan becoming "it" in the third-turn wall (and Busch playing charades with Spencer in front of 275,000 spectators). The three of them probably will receive a slap on the wrist for their actions.

And a pat on the back when nobody's looking.

On the way up, the hard-charging Hoosier was more cordial than a door-to-door salesman with a quota to meet. Sometimes he even went out of his way to accommodate the media, such as during his Indy Racing League days when he once drove to the Sun to be interviewed.

Now that he has achieved NASCAR stardom, Stewart has become a hothead, a sore loser and what Busch was pointing to on his backside when Spencer drove past following their wreck.

Enablers such as his car owner Joe Gibbs and NASCAR chief Bill France keep making excuses for the petulant Stewart, as if being a fierce competitor, which he is, gives him a right to act like an idiot, which he also is.

If Stewart needs 10 minutes to cool off after the race, fine. Most in the media can live with that.

Me? I think I'll just wait in the press room for Michael Waltrip to walk by.