Dick Vitale Announces Lymph Node Cancer Diagnosis After Testing; Will Undergo Surgery

ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale announced Friday that a biopsy revealed a cancerous lymph node in his neck, which will lead to surgery on Tuesday.

The 85-year-old Vitale has been calling college basketball games for ESPN since 1979, the network's first year of existence.

Prior to his broadcasting career, Vitale was a high school basketball coach in New Jersey (1963-1971), an assistant at Rutgers (1971-1973), the head coach at the University of Detroit Mercy (1973-1977) and the Detroit Pistons' head coach (1978-1979).

Vitale has beaten cancer multiple times in recent years. He was diagnosed with melanoma in August 2021 and then lymphoma in October 2021. And then a few months later, Vitale was diagnosed with dysplasia and ulcerated lesions of the vocal cords, which forced him away from broadcasting for the remainder of the season.

In August 2022, Vitale announced that he was cancer-free. He returned to broadcasting in November.

Unfortunately, Vitale was diagnosed with vocal cord cancer in July 2023. However, he received great news in October.

A PET scan in December revealed that he was still cancer-free.

Vitale is best known for his unbridled exuberance for college basketball, which comes across loud and clear during his broadcasts.

However, Vitale has also long been a champion for the V Foundation, which was started by his great friend and ex-North Carolina State men's hoops coach Jim Valvano, who died from cancer in 1993.

Vitale and the entire sports world will hope for good news Tuesday as he undergoes surgery.