BRUNDIGE HAPPY WITH END RESULT.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

There is no hint of regret in his voice, and why should there be?

When reliving the decades he spent as a sports play-by-play broadcaster, most of them in Los Angeles doing the Angels and Rams games in the 1950s and '60s, Bill Brundige has too many fond memories and wonderful experiences.

Yet, there was a crucial turning point in his career that certainly could have changed the course of Lakers' history.

For if the struggling pro basketball team that just moved to L.A. from Minneapolis wasn't able to work out an arrangement with this fellow named Chick Hearn, there's no doubt Brundige would have been the voice of the Lakers.

``Chick was probably a much better choice than I was; he had experience in the sport and he played it,'' Brundige, who will turn 88 on Sunday, was saying the other day over lunch at a golf course in Brea.

``When they had discussions about Chick's salary with the station and the Lakers, it was, ... put it this way, if he hadn't been hired, I'd have been the one,'' Brundige said.

But he quickly added: ``I don't think I could have taken it as long as he did, though.''

Hearn worked at KNX radio doing the USC football and basketball games in 1961, plus network TV assignments for NBC, when Lakers owner Bob Short called him during the NBA playoffs in March. The Lakers and St. Louis Hawks were tied 2-2 in the Western Conference finals, and Short wanted someone to fly to St. Louis for Game 5 and do the game on radio. The team wasn't drawing much attention at the time, and Short needed the publicity.

That's the legendary story about how Hearn started with the organization.

Actually, Brundige also had been approached about the position. He worked for KHJ, which owned a powerful TV and radio station in L.A. at the time. Lew Mohls, the Lakers' general manager who ran the team while Short lived in Minneapolis, was a guest on Brundige's TV sportscast and frequently asked him about the chances of getting local coverage of their games.

KHJ Channel 9 and the Lakers eventually worked out a TV deal, and Brundige, who did the pregame and postgame shows, eventually broadcast Laker games when Hearn had a prior commitment. Brundige also did the last Lakers broadcast in the mid-1960s before Hearn started his remarkable streak that ended with his heart surgery in December 2001.

But frankly, basketball wasn't Brundige's sport. He really didn't want to be tied down to one team. That was part of his freelance spirit that led to an entrepreneurial career away from TV and radio.

A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., Brundige and his wife, Jane, came to Los Angeles in 1952 when he agreed to broadcast the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League.

He had done the Philadelphia Phillies' games the previous two years - the ``Whiz Kids'' won the World Series in 1950 while he was there - and before that, he did the Chicago Cubs, partnered with Rogers Hornsby on WENR, one of three TV stations that carried the team's games.

Phillip Wrigley, the chewing-gum magnet who owned the Cubs and Angels as well as the ivy-covered ballparks with his name in Chicago and Los Angeles, gave Brundige the job on the West Coast. Brundige had been stationed in San Francisco during World War II working for Armed Forces Radio and yearned to return to this part of the country.

Radio, of course, was the dominant medium at the time, but the TV coverage was beginning to make in-roads. Brundige, who became one of TV's first sportscasters in Los Angeles and earned two Golden Mike awards for his work, saw the value in the new toy.

``TV was becoming more available; you could see it was going to be important,'' said Brundige, who hosted the state's first remote TV broadcast in 1939 at the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco. ``Mr. Wrigley saw how he could sell his gum on TV and the games came with it.''

Famed L.A. sportscaster Bob Kelley, who did Angels games on radio, got Brundige involved in the Rams' telecasts in 1952 as well. The Rams were one of the first NFL teams to embrace TV, and the league followed their successes and failures in helping shape their eventual nationwide policy.

Along the way, Brundige also started a glass company in 1964, which he was told by his partners would take only a couple of days a week to run. But Brundige's business sense told him otherwise, and as the store grew, he spent more time there and less in broadcasting.

Though his play-by-play career effectively ended with the Rams in 1966, Brundige stayed active in local radio through the 1970s. Surgery to remove a cancerous lung in 1971 also slowed him down, but he comes into the glass store in Brea on a daily basis as his two sons, Tim and Buzz, run and work at the business.

Brundige, a widower for five years, plans to attend the annual meeting of the Southern California Sports Broadcasters on Monday to catch up with friends - he was inducted into the group's Hall of Fame in 1994 - though many of them such as Kelley, Steve Bailey and Tom Harmon have since passed away.

Though the recent World Series victory by the Angels gave him a thrill, Brundige said he doesn't find the need to watch much sports on TV these days. And when he does, he has pretty much the same criticisms you'd hear from a fan at home.

``I do think a lot of announcers talk too much now,'' he said. ``(Vin) Scully still has it right - you say what needs to be said and shut up and let the people enjoy it. That's what we used to do. Let the crowd noise in as much as possible. You get so much from the roar of the crowd.

``The announcers are also trying to tell you why a play didn't work. Well, you could do that on every play - either the guy on offense didn't do his job, or the guy on defense didn't do his job.

``I'm also big on giving the score. It's better now with the graphics up there on the screen all the time, but it's not always easy to read. I remember a time Mr. Wrigley came out to watch one of my Angels games and he said, `You didn't give the score enough.' Well, the next night we counted. We gave the score 94 times.

``Maybe I'm living too much in the days of Unitas, Waterfield, Van Brocklin, Bobby Layne. It seems the old players really cared about the game. I don't think the players have as much fun as we used to have. There's too much money involved.''

Speaking of which, one more Lakers story: Brundige recalls a time when the General Tire and Rubber Co. asked whether he would talk to Short to see about his interest in selling the Lakers in the mid-1960s.

Short asked for $750,000. General Tire didn't seem to think it was worth that much.

``I guess everything works out for the best,'' Brundige said.

THE RANKINGS: PLAY-BY-PLAY

THE TOP 10

--1. Vin Scully, Dodgers TV: How 'bout after his two-inning simulcast, they go to ``best of'' clips on radio for the rest of the game?

--2. Bob Miller, Kings TV: This season - his 30th with the team - has been like old times for the Hall of Famer. Don't fret. The end is almost here.

--3. Rory Markas, Angels radio: Just another successful rookie season for the longtime L.A. sportscaster. You'll note many of his calls are included in the official World Series highlight video. After some recent turnover here, the team could use an identity on this medium. If he can afford to stick around, this could be a great long-term gig.

--4. Nick Nickson, Kings radio: Someday, he could be doing a broadcast of his son - Nick Jr., 21, is a senior hockey player at USC serving as alternate captain.

--5. Rory Markas, USC basketball radio: Luckily, the season doesn't overlap too much with the Angels, unless the Trojans play in March Madness like last season.

--6. Ross Porter, Dodgers radio: Statistically, few are better.

--7. Paul Sunderland, Lakers TV and radio: He takes over, and the team falls apart. Seriously, the sometimes-too-serious Sundie has shown us he can go the opposite way and get a little too excited on a dazzling play. Chick used to do that, too, but somehow, he could get away with it. Still, there should be no question this guy's the right choice to replace the legend who we continue to miss every day.

--8. Bill MacDonald, Avengers, college basketball TV: He was in the running to replace Chick as the Lakers' top dog, and for good reason.

--9. Jim Watson, high school football TV: Preps become him.

--10. Ralph Lawler, Clippers TV and radio: Would also like the team to appear more on TV. The pay-per-view game is much better, you know.

THE BOTTOM 5

--1. Rick Monday, Dodgers radio: Point of fact: He struck out 1,513 times in his 19-year big-league career - 30th on the all-time list and No. 7 among left-handed swingers. So, yes, he was creating a lot of wind before he landed in the booth.

--2. Terry Smith, Angels radio: It could be worse. It could be Witcher. (Although that commercial where he does the blow-by-blow of a guy trying to balance his checkbook is a classic).

--3. Pete Arbogast, USC football radio: If he didn't sound so condescending every weekend, maybe we could be a little more tolerant. We're trying. Honest.

--4. Steve Physioc, Angels TV: He seemed to lock into cliche mode too often last season. By now, he should learn his job consists of lobbing it to Hudler and clearing out.

--5. This space open: In honor of Chris Madsen, the former Ducks TV guy. We haven't forgotten him. Our ears are still bleeding.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) From 1952 to 1958, Bill Brundige was the voice of the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League at old Wrigley Field.

Courtesy of the Brundige family

Box:

THE RANKINGS: PLAY-BY-PLAY (see text)