Dick Vitale’s cancer: All we know about the ESPN broadcaster’s illness

ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale has been struggling with multiple bouts of cancer since 2021. On Friday, he revealed via X that he had been diagnosed with a cancerous lymph node on his neck. He is set to undergo surgery on Tuesday.

Dick Vitale first underwent multiple surgeries in 2021 for his melanoma diagnosis. Later, it was found that he also had lymphoma. In August 2022, Vitale was declared cancer-free. However, a year later, it was found that his vocal cords had cancer, and he underwent six weeks of radiation.

In March 2024, Dick Vitale shared a video with his physician, Dr. Steven Zeitels. Explaining that the procedure had shown positive results, the doctor said to Vitale:

"Your left vocal cord is now tremendous. You should be able to begin announcing again. You can get back to what you love to do."

With the latest diagnosis, the 84-year-old's return to announcing men's college basketball games is further delayed.

A look at Dick Vitale's professional career

Dick Vitale began his professional career as a basketball coach in high school before moving to Rutgers as an assistant coach for two years.

Villanova v Baylor

Later, in 1973, Vitale took over as the head coach for Detroit Mercy. With an overall record of 78-30, Dick Vitale even led the team to a 21-game winning streak in the 1976–77 season.

He was then promoted to the Athletic Director of the program and was named United Fund's Detroit Man of the Year. In 1978, Dick Vitale coached the Detroit Pistons for one year before moving to sports broadcasting.

ESPN was launched in September 1979, and Vitale joined as its college basketball broadcaster. He called the network's first college basketball game on Dec 5.

“I’m living the American dream,” Vitale once said (via dickvitaleonline.com). “I learned from my mom and dad, who didn’t have a formal education, but had doctorates of love. They told me that if you gave 110 percent all the time, a lot of beautiful things will happen."

"I may not always be right, but no one can ever accuse me of not having a genuine love and passion for whatever I do. And ESPN has been grateful enough to recognize this.”

Dick Vitale has called over a thousand basketball games, including the 1983 and 1984 NBA seasons. Besides this, Vitale is also involved in philanthropy.

He is on the Board of Directors for The V Foundation for Cancer Research. This is a non-profit organization founded in 1993 by ESPN and the late Jim Valvano, who died of cancer.

For his contributions to sports broadcasting, Dick Vitale was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.