![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IZBGS2CUVWWL3VT3GWPK45V65A.jpg\")
FILE – ABC\/ESPN basketball analyst Dick Vitale sits at midcourt prior to an NCAA college basketball game between Baylor and Villanova, Dec. 12, 2021, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo\/Ray Carlin, File)(Ray Carlin \/ AP)<\/p>\nDick Vitale is inextricably intertwined with college basketball, with his iconic voice, exuberant style and enthusiastic catchphrases melding into a soundtrack for nearly five decades of the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
And the broadcasting great\u2019s influence is sticking around next season, too, both in person on game days and through an addition to the college basketball calendar named in his honor.<\/p>\n
ESPN announced Monday that Vitale has signed a contract through the 2027-28 season, while ESPN Events is launching the Dick Vitale Invitational \u2014 the first matchup being a season-opening tilt between Duke and Texas on Nov. 4 in Charlotte, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
Fittingly, the announcement comes on the 86th birthday of the affectionately known \u201cDickie V,\u201d and months after Vitale\u00a0returned to the airwaves\u00a0after being gone for two years amid a fourth battle with cancer. The Basketball Hall of Famer, also a former college and NBA coach, has been with ESPN since its 1979 launch and called the network\u2019s first college basketball broadcast.<\/p>\n
Texas College Sports<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many times, awards and honors come to people after they\u2019re long gone,\u201d Vitale said in an interview with The Associated Press. \u201cAnd to get it while you\u2019re living is just a great, great feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vitale\u2019s career is built around his zeal for college basketball, one familiar for fans who have grown up watching games called by Vitale. That style is so authentically distinctive that it can come only from Vitale himself, down to his catchphrases like calling freshmen \u201cDiaper Dandies\u201d and imploring coaches to \u201cbetter get a TO, baby!\u201d at key moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for a lot of people, he represents the voice of the sport,\u201d said Clint Overby, vice president of ESPN Events. \u201cFor a lot people he embodies all that\u2019s great about the sport. So we\u2019re excited to do this with him and excited he agreed to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paying tribute<\/p>\n
Overby said discussions about a Vitale-named event had been tossed around going back years, with conversations reaching Vitale in recent months in what Vitale called \u201ca shock.\u201d<\/p>\n
FILE – ABC\/ESPN basketball analyst Dick Vitale sits at midcourt prior to an NCAA college basketball game between Baylor and Villanova, Dec. 12, 2021, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo\/Ray Carlin, File)(Ray Carlin \/ AP)<\/p>\n
ESPN Events is partnering with the Charlotte Sports Foundation after they worked together previously on the Jumpman Invitational and Ally Tipoff events for men\u2019s and women\u2019s college basketball in Charlotte. After the Duke-Texas game, Overby said, ESPN Events will evaluate how the Invitational will evolve with scheduling, format and even the potential to involve multiple nights in multiple cities.<\/p>\n
Overby believes it\u2019s a worthy tribute to the man who welcomed him to college basketball as Overby watched games on TV while growing up in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d turn on a late-night basketball game and he would be there,\u201d Overby said. \u201cSo for a lot of years, he was kind of my window into that world. And I\u2019m not alone. I think he provided that voice of the sport to so many people as the sport and TV were emerging together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting back<\/p>\n
Vitale sounds eager to get back to courtside this fall, calling it \u201cthe best medicine in the world\u201d to join partners like Dave O\u2019Brien and Dan Shulman.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel really good,\u201d Vitale said. \u201cI really do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vitale had surgery last summer to remove cancerous lymph nodes from his neck. He was previously treated for melanoma and lymphoma, and had radiation treatments last year for vocal cord cancer. He described feeling \u201ctrapped\u201d afterward not being able to speak, leaving him to scribble eraser board messages to communicate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell people: \u2018If you know somebody battling cancer, really take a moment, send them a text message, something encouraging, send them a prayer,\u201d Vitale said. \u201cBecause I know what it did for me. It lifted me big time in some of my darkest moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now he calls himself \u201cfortunate,\u201d \u201cblessed\u201d and \u201clucky\u201d while offering thanks to family and ESPN for supporting his recovery.<\/p>\n
He\u00a0announced he was cancer-free in December<\/a>, returned Feb. 8 for Clemson\u2019s home win against Duke,\u00a0then became emotional during the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in March<\/a>\u00a0when telling colleagues live that it felt \u201clike a miracle to sit here with you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking ahead<\/p>\n It\u2019s among several ways cancer has touched Vitale, a longtime fundraiser for cancer research. He notably helped friend Jim Valvano to the stage at the 1993 ESPYs, where Valvano delivered his famous \u201cDon\u2019t give up\u201d speech, then helped him off with now-retired Duke Hall of Fame men\u2019s coach Mike Krzyzewski. Valvano died of adenocarcinoma less than two months later.<\/p>\n The V Foundation announced last month<\/a>\u00a0that the 20th annual gala in Vitale\u2019s name had raised $12.5 million for pediatric cancer research in the past year and more than $105 million in its history \u2014 continuing work Vitale said \u201cmight be the greatest achievement of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n As for broadcasting, Vitale said he\u2019d love to reach the 50-year milestone with ESPN in 2029.<\/p>\n \u201cI do it because I love it and I feel mentally sharp enough to do it,\u201d Vitale said. \u201cI would never do it if I was at a point in my life I couldn\u2019t remember names, didn\u2019t know players, teams, coaches, strategy. But I feel so strong about that.<\/p>\n \u201cSo many people would say to me, \u2018Dick, you\u2019ve made enough, you\u2019ve had enough success, why don\u2019t you just relax?\u2019 They don\u2019t realize: It is relaxing! Every game for me is relaxing!\u201d<\/p>\n A federal judge has approved terms of a settlement that will change the way college sports have been run for more than a century.<\/p>\n Seeley was announced as the College Sports Commission\u2019s new leader after the $2.8 billion House v. NCAA settlement was approved.<\/p>\n The sweeping terms of the settlement include approval for each school to share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year.<\/p>\n![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/KTCJIPDBOVAIZMTIMMYJ5CJIDM.jpg\")
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