Vitale falls in the house; transmitting return on hold
Jan 18, 2025, 04:16 PM ET Hall of Fame broadcaster Dick Vitale will not be returning to transmitting next week after all.Vitale announced Saturday that he has actually been hospitalized after a fall at his Florida home. In a post on X, Vitale said doctors informed him he is “making excellent strides” and surgery is not required.The news comes
one day after ESPN revealed Vitale would call the Duke-Wake Forest men’s college basketball game Jan. 25 at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston Salem, North Carolina, which would have been his very first time on air given that 2023.
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1 Related Vitale, 85, has fought 4 different types of cancer in the past 3 1/2 years. Most just recently, he went through surgical treatment in summer 2024 after a biopsy of a lymph node in his neck showed cancer. Vitale announced on Jan. 8 that he was cancer-free.
“I’m devastated that I will not be courtside with my ESPN buddy Dave O’Brien and with all the players and fans, specifically since of the frustrating reaction I got when news of my prepared return was announced,” Vitale said. “I was anxiously waiting for the possibility to feel the excitement and energy of a college basketball environment for the very first time in nearly 2 years.”
Vitale added that he is anticipated to make a full healing, but no timetable for his go back to broadcasting has actually been made.
“Regardless of this most current setback, I feel blessed to have the assistance of my family, pals and ESPN colleagues,” Vitale stated. “I’m a fortunate guy and as I have actually stated in the past, I will continue to do whatever it requires to return to calling the sport I like.”
In 2021, Vitale was diagnosed with lymphoma, months after he had numerous surgical treatments to eliminate melanoma. In 2022, he announced he was cancer-free. Then in 2023, he was identified with singing cord cancer and underwent radiation.Vitale’s last game
assignment was almost 2 years ago– on April 3, 2023, calling the global broadcast of the San Diego State vs. UConn championship game for ESPN. He revealed he was cancer-free once again in November 2023. Vitale signed up with ESPN throughout the 1979-80 season, just
after ESPN’s launch, and called the network’s very first significant NCAA basketball game on Dec. 5, 1979. He has gone on to call well over 1,000 games, and in September 2024, he was inducted into the Broadcasting+ Cable Hall of Fame.