ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale said in a statement issued by his employer Monday that he has been diagnosed with melanoma in his lung and liver cavity and will soon begin immunotherapy treatment.
Vitale underwent a biopsy last week after doctors discovered abnormalities during some recent tests. He was open last week about his anxiety, describing the wait for his results as ‘agonizing,’ and writing overnight Monday that he was so worried that he could not sleep. Throughout the process, including in Monday’s announcement, Vitale said that he feels “fantastic” physically.
The new diagnosis is just the latest health challenge for Vitale, who at 86 is now battling cancer for the fifth time in as many years. Vitale: “I’ve beaten melanoma. I’ve beaten lymphoma. I’ve beaten vocal cord cancer. I’ve beaten lymph node cancer. I’m four-for-four and I’m fully confident I’m going to make it five-for-five.”
Between the cancer diagnoses, related vocal cord issues, and a household accident, Vitale went nearly two full years away from broadcasting from April 2023 to February of 2025.
He returned to a semi-regular schedule of game assignments this past season, most recently working an NCAA men’s basketball tournament “First Four” game alongside Charles Barkley for TNT Sports — his first-ever game assignment on the tournament. (He was a studio analyst when ESPN held tournament rights through 1990.)
Vitale has been an advocate for cancer research long before he ever suffered from the disease, raising money through the V Foundation — named for his broadcast colleague Jim Valvano, whose battle with the disease was immortalized by his “Don’t Give Up” speech at the 1993 ESPY Awards. Vitale was also honored at the ESPYs, receiving the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the 2022 ceremony.
Having joined ESPN in the first year of its existence in 1979, Vitale has long been the face of college basketball coverage on the network and one of its best-known employees generally. Whether amidst the joy of a game winner or more recently in tearful gratitude for his colleagues support, he has over the course of that nearly 50-year tenure worn his heart on his sleeve like few others.
Known for his boisterous personality — including catchphrases like “Awesome, Baby!” and “Are You Serious?” — Vitale in the prime of his career was as associated with his sport as any game analyst in the history of this industry, perhaps exceeded only by John Madden on football.
