The legendary Dick Vitale made his return to the broadcast booth Tuesday night for the first time since he was diagnosed with lymphoma. It was certainly an emotional scene.
Vitale and his broadcast partner Dave O’Brian were getting ready to call the highly anticipated matchup between #1 Gonzaga and #2 UCLA in Las Vegas. Vitale was very emotional during O’Brian’s intro and had a hard timing keeping himself together.
“Dickie, it is so great to see you,” said O’Brien. “I know that you would not miss this. All of you are aware that Dick is battling cancer. The fact that you’ve made it out to Las Vegas for a game that I know you had circled for a long, long time. It’s just awesome. Great to see you.”
“It’s great being here, Dave,” Dick Vitale said fighting back tears. “I didn’t wanna cry! I can’t believe I’m sitting here. It’s just really a big thrill for me. I wanna to thank all you people, sending me so many great messages.
“ESPN, [ESPN President] Jimmy Pitaro, all of my buddies at ESPN. I wanna thank, certainly, my family and all the fans. My, you’ve been unbelievable. On October 12th – I’ll be honest with you – when they walked in and told me I had cancer, they thought it was bile duct cancer and it really was going to be a serious surgery and all.
“I never dreamt at 82 that I’d ever be courtside again. But to be here today, I’m sorry. I hope I don’t cause a problem out there, but I mean, it’s a little emotional.”
“Don’t apologize for anything,” said O’Brien. “Well, and the game is the big thing,” said Vitale. “Let’s get this game going, talk some basketball.”
In the end, Gonzaga pulled away from UCLA, burying the Bruins 83-63. The outcome of the game wasn’t really the headline. Far more people took to Twitter to express their joy in seeing Dick Vitale back on TV.