Dick Vitale says he is full speed ahead for another college basketball season at ESPN, at age 87 and in the middle of another round of cancer treatment. The broadcaster told the East County Observer’s Jay Heater that working games is part of the fight. “It is not easy battling cancer. There is lots of chemo and radiation. But I always think positive, and I have faith. If you do not, cancer will eat you alive. My advice is to stay active. If you do nothing, lay in bed, it will eat you up.”
Dick Vitale added a condition on the work he takes on. “You need to have that energy and enthusiasm. So I will not accept any project unless I can finish it. If I can not be me, I will not accept that assignment.” The remarks, reported this week, came as ESPN set out its commentator teams for the 2026-27 college basketball season, with Vitale listed for his 47th season at the network.
Dick Vitale season debut set for November 27
Dick Vitale will make his season debut at the second annual Dick Vitale Invitational Presented by Belk on Friday, Nov. 27, when West Virginia plays North Carolina in Charlotte at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The event carries his name, and ESPN Events launched it in 2025 alongside his contract extension. The first edition, on Nov. 4, 2025, in Charlotte, matched Duke against Texas. This year, North Carolina faces West Virginia.
ESPN’s college basketball coverage tips off Monday, Nov. 2, with more than 7,000 men’s and women’s games available across ESPN networks during the season. The network lists five Naismith Basketball Hall of Famers among its commentators, and Vitale is one of them. Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and reporter Kris Budden serve again as the lead men’s team, while Vitale keeps a smaller, set-piece role built around the event that bears his name.
After his return to the booth, he changed routines to protect his health, including saying no more often and talking less on the day of a game.
Dick Vitale health history and ESPN tenure
Dick Vitale has been treated for cancer several times. He was treated for melanoma and lymphoma in 2021, for vocal cord cancer in 2023, and he had surgery in the summer of 2024 to remove cancerous lymph nodes from his neck. He missed the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons while undergoing treatment. Dick Vitale announced he was cancer-free in December 2024, and he returned to the booth in February 2025 to call Duke against Clemson, his first college game in nearly two years.
In April 2026, he announced a fifth cancer diagnosis, according to Athlon Sports, and he is undergoing treatment for melanoma in his lung and liver cavity. That is the treatment he referred to in his remarks to the East County Observer. He also works to raise money for cancer research through the V Foundation, the charity set up in honor of his friend and fellow coach Jim Valvano.
His ESPN tenure goes back to Dec. 5, 1979, when he called the network’s first college basketball broadcast. He has called more than 1,000 college basketball games for ESPN since then. In June 2025, on his 86th birthday, ESPN announced a contract extension that keeps him with the network through the 2027-28 season. That deal puts him on track to reach 50 years at ESPN.
Dick Vitale voice still part of the sport
Dick Vitale came to broadcasting after coaching, including a spell as head coach of the Detroit Pistons in 1978-79 and a college coaching career before that. His broadcast style made him a fixture: loud, fast, and full of catchphrases such as “This is awesome, baby,” “Diaper Dandies” and “Better get a TO, baby.” Those phrases have been part of ESPN’s college coverage since the network’s early years.
He was also the keynote speaker at a Gathering of Friends Dinner in Greensboro, North Carolina, an event he announced on Instagram on Oct. 27.
College basketball tips off Nov. 2, and his first call is Nov. 27 in Charlotte, for West Virginia against North Carolina at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. His contract runs through the 2027-28 season. For now, his own description of the plan is the simplest one available: full speed ahead, on assignments he can finish, in his 47th season at ESPN.