It’s awesome, baby! Post-cancer, Dick Vitale is back where he belongs for Kentucky-Alabama
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Game day: No. 4 Alabama 96, No. 17 Kentucky 83
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
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In his long basketball career, Dick Vitale never felt the experience of winning a national championship.
Until now.
“That’s what it feels like,” college basketball’s most famous broadcaster said this week. “It’s like winning a national championship.”
After a four-year-battle with four types of cancer, including vocal cord cancer, the 85-year-old Vitale is back where he belongs, behind the microphone analyzing, pontificating on and proselytizing about the game of college basketball that he loves.
To use one of Dickie V’s own catch phrases: “It’s awesome, baby!”
The Hall of Famer was scheduled to be alongside ESPN’s Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes on Saturday for the Kentucky-Alabama game. After a two-year absence, Saturday was to be the third game Vitale had worked, following Clemson’s 77-71 win over visiting Duke on Feb. 8 — where Vitale receiving a standing ovation — and Duke’s 106-70 win over Stanford at Cameron Indoor Stadium last Saturday.
“The doctor told me, ‘I don’t want you doing interviews.’ I’ll justify it because it’s related to the game with Kentucky,” Vitale said. “He said, ‘I want you to save the voice, keep it strong. I don’t want you working more than one game a week. And I don’t want you to do it by yourself.’ This is the first time I’ve ever worked with partners.”
Vitale announced in December that he is cancer-free. Previously treated for melanoma and lymphoma, Vitale underwent surgery last summer to remove cancerous lymph nodes from his neck, his fifth major surgery. He had also undergone radiation treatments for vocal cord cancer.
The lowest point came after one particular chemotherapy treatment when the doctors told Vitale he had to remain in the hospital for observation instead of going home with his family.
“It was about nine o’clock and they had to leave the hospital,” Vitale said. “As they started to leave, I start crying like a baby. The nurse came in to say it’s OK. And I said, ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna see my family.’ About 30 minutes later, I hadn’t used my phone all day, and I went to look at my phone and there were loads of messages. They just accumulated for the day.
“I try to tell people, if you know somebody battling cancer, don’t think it doesn’t mean a whole lot when you send them a message saying, ‘I’m praying for you. We know you’re going to make it.’ All of a sudden, I looked at my phone and it was just flooded, people writing beautiful messages about keep fighting. Don’t quit. Man, it gave me a lift. I said, ‘I’m going to beat this.’”
Though he has raised over $100 million dollars in the past 20 years for pediatric cancer, including with his Dick Vitale Annual Gala, Vitale said his experience gave him a new appreciation for what those children and their families go through.
“That’s why I’m obsessed with raising money for kids battling cancer,” Vitale said. “It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life, to be honest. Obviously, basketball has been very good to me. It’s opened doors. But, man, after going through what I just did, I can’t imagine how the kids do that.”
Despite being away from the broadcasts, Vitale was able to keep up with college basketball. In fact, the hoops junkie said he watched tons of basketball. He said was looking forward to Saturday because of the job that coach Nate Oats has done at Alabama, taking the Crimson Tide to the Final Four last year, and what Mark Pope has done in his first year as head coach at Kentucky.
“I didn’t really know Mark that well,” Vitale said of the UK coach. “His enthusiasm is so contagious. I loved talking to him. Just so enthusiastic. . . . He was a great choice. I’m a big fan of John Calipari, but anytime you stay someplace 15 years, it’s hard. It was time. I think they made the right choice.”
What does Vitale think of what he has seen from Kentucky on the court?
“Mark doesn’t want to make excuses about injuries, but to me they’re not excuses, they’re facts. Those are major losses,” Vitale said of injuries to starting guards Lamont Butler (shoulder) and Jaxson Robinson (wrist). “Certainly, offensively they do an excellent job. Kentucky has to shore up the defense. I talked to Mark about it, that defense is a team concept. A lot of times kids individually play great defense, but they don’t play great team defense. They absolutely have to communicate. They have to help.”
Yes, Dickie V is back to doing what Dickie V loves best, talking basketball. It’s awesome, baby!
“It was really scary to be back on the court again that first game,” Vitale said. “But it’s like a miracle for me. I’m like a little kid being back. It’s like Christmas.”
Like winning a national title.
This story was originally published February 21, 2025 at 6:30 AM.
