SARASOTA – Finally, Dick Vitale is returning to the ESPN starting lineup.
The 85-year-old Lakewood Ranch resident and ESPN college basketball analyst will broadcast his first game since 2023 when he joins announcers Dave O’Brien and Cory Alexander in calling Saturday’s contest between Duke and Clemson.
Cleared to resume broadcasting in December following recovery from vocal cord cancer, Vitale was slated to return last month to the ESPN microphone when a fall in his home delayed it.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous,” said Vitale, who worked ESPN’s first college basketball telecast in 1979. “But more than that? I’m overwhelmed with gratitude. The past few years have tested me like never before.”
Before vocal cord cancer, Vitale battled melanoma, lymphoma, and lymph node cancer.
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“There were moments I wasn’t sure I’d ever sit courtside again,” he said. “Long stretches where I had no voice at all. It was a rollercoaster — highs, lows, moments of doubt. But through it all, I kept fighting, believing, and praying. The last time I called a game was on April 3, 2023, the National Championship, UConn versus San Diego State for ESPN International. That feels like a lifetime ago. But now? Now, I get to do it again.”
Vitale has called more than 1,000 college basketball games for ESPN. Last year, in September, he was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. As will be his legacy, Vitale has been a leading voice for the V Foundation for Cancer Research, founded in 1993 by the late Jim Valvano. With the assistance of the Dick Vitale Gala, which is closing in on $100 million raised for the Dick Vitale Pediatric Cancer Research Fund, the V Foundation has generated nearly $400 million for cancer research grants throughout North America.
Meanwhile, Vitale encourages donations for his 20th Annual Dick Vitale Gala, set for May 2 at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, to help him realize his goal of $100 million collected for pediatric cancer research. To donate, visit v.org/Vitalefund. For Gala information, contact Mary Kenealy at 941-350-0580.
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