Beloved ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale has been back on the airwaves and better than ever this college basketball season after nearly a year away from a microphone due to a public battle with cancer.
While the 83-year-old is always excited around the time of the men’s NCAA tournament, he’s also had the chance to reflect before this year’s Big Dance on his experiences during his time away from the court, where he revealed he had some “dark moments.”
“It’s just a great feeling,” Vitale said of his return to broadcasting, per USA Today Sports, “because I’m telling you, there were some dark, dark moments, man.”
Vitale missed almost the entirety of the 2021–22 college basketball season after a series of health scares, beginning with melanoma. Just a few months after he underwent several surgeries to remove the melanoma, he was diagnosed with lymphoma and dysplasia on his vocal cords, which sidelined him from being on the air.
“Laying in the hospital after you do your chemo,” Vitale said, “your family leaves, you’re laying there and thoughts go through your mind. You know, if you’re going to see another day. Never mind another basketball game.”
Vitale said he “felt trapped” by the second diagnosis as the dysplasia rendered him unable to use his voice for eight weeks. He watched last year’s NCAA tournament at home instead of providing his usual analysis for ESPN.
In August of last year, Vitale revealed that he was “cancer-free,” much to the delight of the college basketball world. He began broadcasting again a few months later and was welcomed back with an outpouring of support from just about every corner of the sport.
“The love I’ve received has been unreal,” Vitale, who picked Alabama to win this year’s tournament, told USA Today. “I get so much encouragement from my family, and I can’t express to you enough my love for ESPN. It's more than a job for me.”
