Beloved college basketball broadcaster and retired coach Dick Vitale has revealed that his cancer has returned.
“My lymph node biopsy report in my neck has come in and it is cancerous,” Vitale, 85, wrote on X. “With all the (prayer emojis) I have received and the loving support of my family, friends and colleagues of @espn I will win this battle.
Vitale added: ‘Surgery (prayer emojis) on Tuesday. It will be a success. Thank you for all the prayers.’
This is Vitale’s fourth battle with cancer in the past three years.
In August 2021, she revealed that she had been treated for melanoma and had been diagnosed with lymphoma in October of that year.
Vitale has been a staple of ESPN’s college basketball coverage since its inception.
As always, there was a huge online response to Vitale’s disturbing announcement.
In August 2022, he declared himself “cancer-free,” but doctors diagnosed him with vocal cord cancer in July 2023.
In December, he said he was once again cancer-free after six weeks of radiation.
As always, there was a huge online response to Vitale’s announcement.
“We love you, Dickie V.,” ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt wrote.
Another ESPN veteran, Rece Davis, added: “Prayers to you, Dickie V.”
And the supporters weren’t limited to college basketball fans.
The San Diego Padres social media account also posted: “You are a legend, Dick. The sports world is behind you.”
A former head coach at the University of Detroit from 1973 to 1977 who then coached the NBA’s Pistons for two seasons, the New Jersey native joined ESPN shortly after the network’s launch in 1979.
Since then, he has become synonymous with college basketball, coining terms like “diaper dandy” (a good freshman player) and “PTPer” (primetime player), while helping to popularize the sport from coast to coast. .
He was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the NCAA Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Vitale has also raised money for cancer research through the V Foundation, named after his friend and former North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano, who died from the disease in 1993.
