The Los Angeles Lakers celebrated "Chick Hearn Night" on Sunday, November 27th, which would have been the legendary Hall of Fame sports broadcaster¡¯s 89th birthday. All fans attending the game received an I Love Chick bear and Mark Haas, winner of the 2005 Chick Hearn Memorial Scholarship, was recognized at halftime.

Marge Hearn, widow of Chick Hearn, her great-granddaughter, Kayla, and USC Journalism Professor Joe Salzman participated in the special presentation to honor Mark, a senior at USC from Fort Collins, Colorado, who was named the third recipient of the scholarship. Mark serves as sports director for Annenberg TV news and assistant producer for MattReggieTV.com. The award also includes an internship with Fox Sports Net, where Mark will assist with the production of live pre-game programming and game telecasts.

Awarded annually to a deserving Broadcast Journalism major at the USC Annenberg School of Communication, the Chick Hearn Memorial Scholarship is funded by an endowment established by the Los Angeles Lakers in memory of Hearn, who passed away in 2002. In addition to a major gift from the Lakers, hundreds of fans contributed to the scholarship fund, which now totals more than $100,000. At halftime, Marge Hearn announced a campaign to expand the scholarship to benefit two students annually. She has made a lead gift of $100,000 and the public is invited to contribute to the fund