Hall of Fame broadcaster Dick Vitale will return to broadcasting for the first time in nearly two years for Saturday’s matchup featuring No. 2 Duke at Clemson at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Vitale, 85, who has been fighting cancer for the past 3½ years, announced he was cancer-free on Jan. 8.
Vitale’s return to calling games had been postponed due to an accident at his home. He previously was set to call the Duke-Wake Forest game on Jan. 25, which would have been his first time on air since 2023, but he announced that he had been hospitalized after a fall at his Florida home.
Vitale has battled four different types of cancer in the past 3½ years. Most recently, he underwent surgery in summer 2024 after a biopsy of a lymph node in his neck showed cancer.
In 2021, Vitale was diagnosed with lymphoma, months after he had multiple surgeries to remove melanoma. In 2022, he announced he was cancer-free. Then in 2023, he was diagnosed with vocal cord cancer and underwent radiation.
Vitale’s last game assignment was nearly two years ago — on April 3, 2023, calling the international broadcast of the San Diego State vs. UConn national championship game for ESPN. He announced he was cancer-free again in November 2023.
Vitale joined ESPN during the 1979-80 season, just after ESPN’s launch, and called the network’s first major NCAA basketball game on Dec. 5, 1979. He has gone on to call well over 1,000 games, and in September 2024, he was inducted into the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame.
