On Tuesday, Dick Vitale was told the four words he was so desperately waiting to hear.
You are cancer-free.
The longtime ESPN college basketball analyst, who has battled various forms of cancer since 2021, announced on social media that his doctors at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida gave him a clean bill of health after reviewing his scans and bloodwork.
“I can’t believe it. I really am so excited,” Vitale said. “It brought me to tears when he delivered it because as cancer patients, you know that call is nerve-wracking. It’s life-changing. …I’m on cloud nine.”
Since undergoing surgery in the summer of 2021 to remove melanoma, Vitale has endured several different cancer diagnoses and treatments. He announced in October 2021 that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma and later that year, precancerous dysplasia and ulcerous lesions were found on his vocal cords.
Two years later, in July 2023, he was again diagnosed with cancer in his vocal cords, forcing him to undergo radiation treatments and in June 2024, a biopsy of a lymph node in his neck showed cancer.
During that four-year stretch, Vitale had to step away on several different occasions from calling games for ESPN, where he had become one of the faces of not only the network’s college basketball coverage, but the sport as a whole. He missed the entirety of the 2023-24 season before making his much-anticipated return for Clemson’s 77-71 win against Duke on Feb. 8.
‘There were moments I wasn’t sure I’d ever sit courtside again,’ he said to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in advance of his first game back. ‘Long stretches where I had no voice at all. It was a roller coaster — highs, lows, moments of doubt. But through it all, I kept fighting, believing, and praying. The last time I called a game was on April 3, 2023, the national championship, UConn versus San Diego State for ESPN International. That feels like a lifetime ago. But now? Now, I get to do it again.’
Following the latest bit of good news, Vitale has some plans in mind.
“Celebration time tonight,” he said. “I’m going to have a great Italian dinner, man. I feel like I won the national championship.”