Chick Hearn, the longtime Lakers announcer, liked telling the story of how he suggested that the new building—dubbed simply the Forum—be called the Fabulous Forum. Cooke was so pleased, he told Hearn, “There will be a little something extra in your paycheck this week.” Indeed, there was—a wallet-size photograph of Jack Kent Cooke. “He was,” said Rod Hundley, the former Lakers player and broadcaster, “the number one asshole that ever lived.”
