Now cancer-free, Dick Vitale returning to college basketball Jan. 25

BRADENTON — On this chilly Bradenton morning at his favorite breakfast nook, the cancer-conquering octogenarian gradually works his surgically mended vocal cords back into game shape.

Dick Vitale is letting his voice project in increments. Before returning to a courtside, he works a tableside, at the First Watch restaurant near his Lakewood Ranch home that he routinely patronizes. On this day, a procession of customers approach Vitale, offering good health, well-wishes or victory for his beloved Notre Dame, which plays for a national football title in a few days.

None are turned away; to the contrary, it’s why he’s here. At last, the consummate schmoozer can talk — really talk — again. He needs the practice.

“You’ve got to stay mentally alert, you’ve got to stay active,” said Vitale, 85, who offers a selfie with every customer who approaches. “I’ve tried to go out (instead of) sitting home and feeling sorry for myself. … When you’re alone, thinking about that cancer drives you nuts.”

As audible levels go, this is distinct Dickie V, the Jersey accent still as thick as the strawberry jam an arm’s length away. To be sure, it’s not as resonant or rich as it was in his broadcasting heyday, when it served as the de facto soundtrack of college hoops on ESPN, but it’s several notches above the feeble whisper to which he was confined during his grueling odyssey of radiations and regimens, probes and procedures.

Now, it’s poised to engage a much larger audience. In the wake of his latest cancer bout (this one in the lymph nodes), as well as a delicate four-hour vocal-cord procedure last summer, Vitale has been cleared to call games again for ESPN. He’ll make his return Jan. 25, when he works with play-by-play veteran Dave O’Brien for Duke’s 4:30 p.m. contest at Wake Forest on ESPN.

“I’m a nervous wreck about doing the games, to be honest with you,” he said.

Stands to reason. Vitale, whose bombast, unfiltered exuberance and self-crafted vernacular (from “Awesome Baby!” to “Diaper Dandy”) earned him a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame, hasn’t called a contest since the 2023 national championship for ESPN International.

In fact, his workload has been sparse the better part of the last four years, during which he has waged — and won — four different cancer battles, has undergone more than 10 surgical procedures and has endured 65 radiation treatments. During stretches of that journey, which included a bout with vocal-cord cancer, Vitale was forbidden by doctors from using his voice.

“I had five major — I mean, major — surgeries in two years,” he said. “I’m talking about in a hospital, I’m talking about anesthesia, so it wasn’t just like a procedure in the office.”

Hence this deliberate approach to his comeback. When he returns, Vitale will do no phone interviews on game days and won’t attend shootarounds. Every syllable, every molecule of strength, will be preserved for the two-hour broadcast. At this point, he plans to work one game a week.

“I’ve got to low-key it,” he said. “I used to go to shootarounds. I would go in there and talk to local reporters. People wanted to talk, I never said no to anybody. … I don’t like explaining to everybody why I’m not doing it, because I don’t want to come across as a wiseass, like, ‘This guy’s too big to do an interview?’ That’s not me. … So I’m going to try to do it again and see how it goes. I’ve got to be cautious.”

The vocal-cord cancer (requiring 30 rounds of radiation) left Vitale especially wary. A year after that diagnosis, Dr. Steven Zeitels — internationally renowned director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation in Boston — approached Vitale about a tricky procedure that could rejuvenate his voice.

In essence, Zeitels wanted to transpose membrane from his previously cancerous vocal cord to the other. In a worst-case scenario, Vitale was told, he’d still be cancer-free but would have to live with a mildly compromised voice probably not strong enough for broadcasting. If the surgery worked, he’d likely be able to return to TV.

The surgery, performed last summer in Boston, was successful.

“I’ve done small versions of it,” Zeitels explained in a Jan. 8 Facebook video posted by Vitale.

“This was the largest version of this operation that has ever been done. It was a procedure that I created about 15 years ago for people who had had a lot of treatment. Yours was the largest by far, and it had never been done in someone who had had radiation, which makes it much more difficult for surgery.”

Today, Zeitels remains astounded at the strength of Vitale’s voice, considering his age and ordeal. Though he has implemented the strict conditions for his patient’s return to the headset (i.e. no pregame interviews), Zeitels said Vitale’s vocal cords no longer will impede him from indulging his passion.

Specifically, it’s two passions. In addition to broadcasting, Vitale continues his indefatigable crusade against pediatric cancer, which he has waged for two decades. Every visitor to his table on this day gets a pamphlet for the 20th annual Dick Vitale Gala, set for May 2 in Sarasota. He’s also hawking his latest book, “Until My Last Breath,” which chronicles the cancer journey of several kids he has met over the years.

All proceeds from book sales goes to pediatric-cancer research.

“We’re at $92.9 (million) raised since I started (the gala),” Vitale said. “This year, our goal is to go over $100 million. Think about it. That is after expenses. That is what we actually put into research. I’m very proud of that.”

He’s also indebted to ESPN — and especially chairman Jimmy Pitaro — for remaining at his side throughout his myriad health battles and allowing his modified return to the network.

“Dick is one of a kind,” Pitaro said in a statement released Friday by the network, “and we can’t wait to have him back doing what he loves most on ESPN on Jan. 25.”

The headset, the crowds, the coaches, the raucous collegiate settings — these represent Vitale’s greatest elixir. At last, he’s ready to drink it all in again. Dickie V has been parched far too long.

“It’s like the greatest medicine in the world for me,” he said.

“If I felt mentally that I wasn’t sharp enough about the game, about the players, there’s no way I’m doing it. I don’t need it. I’m 85 years old, I can just retire and relax. … Let’s face it, I’m in the fourth quarter, man. I’m in the last four minutes of the game, but I was telling people, I hope to play about 10 overtimes.”

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls

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