Dick Vitale battles: He is beloved and an open man; Sports Broadcaster of the Year for 2024!

I love pioneers. And college basketball’s Dick Vitale is one whose personality and energy have never faded. He’s an announcer, the likes of the NFL’s John Madden, MLB’s Joe Garagiola and the NHL’s Barry Melrose. They can all talk up their respective sport as no one else can. Yes, genuine ambassadors are like nothing contrived. Their relationships with their vie(wers are best described as electrical and entertaining.

When it comes to college basketball, Vitale was a perfect match for a perfect time, 1979. Coming off the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird, Indiana State-Michigan State.

He doesn’t stop talking proudly about all the charity work he does happily and how willingly, the many millions he’s raised on his active role on the board of the V Foundation. (Vitale left)

I love pioneers. And college basketball’s Dick Vitale is one whose personality and energy have never faded. He’s an announcer, the likes of the NFL’s John Madden, MLB’s Joe Garagiola and the NHL’s Barry Melrose. They can all talk up their respective sport as no one else can. Yes, genuine ambassadors are like nothing contrived. Their relationships with their viewers are best described as electrical and entertaining.

When it comes to college basketball, Vitale was a perfect match for a perfect time, 1979. Coming off the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird, Indiana State-Michigan State.

The title game Americans grew an appetite for college ball. But the three legacy networks ABC, CBS and NBC wouldn’t touch it, not night after night. ESPN, still in the cradle, born in September ’79, operated on a shoestring. So with nothing in the can and little money to spend, the Bristolites gobbled up college basketball and winter nights were never the same. Television across America is filled with hoops.

With the new-found visibility of ESPN, the fledgling Big East became a giant, an ACC a monster, and the unique Vitale the face of it all. Other conferences would emerge further, the Big Ten and the Pac-10. Only aficionados would know names like Marv Harshman and Pete Newell, other than the famous John Wooden.

Dickie V went to work with bells ringing. He traveled to arenas, large and small, well before tip-off, to greet all; Vitale became part of America’s growing college hoops’ tapestry.

He was a successful college coach at the University of Detroit and spent a little more than a year as the Pistons’ man on the bench. Not good enough for Pistons ownership. He was out of work and wanted another coaching gig. When it didn’t happen immediately, ESPN reached out. But Dickie V wanted to coach. He finally said yes, with a little nudge from his wife, Lorriane. The couple was married for fifty years. Dickie V threw himself into broadcast work and the rest is history.

Our St. John’s athletic director, the late Jack Kaiser, brought Vitale to New York to speak at a dinner at Mama Leone. He enlightened and entertained the audience and was so impassioned that he could hardly keep the mic in his hand.

Vitale’s tales about kids who suffered from cancer. He and dinner organizers, push to raise money for the effort. They’re determined to eradicate diseases. Dick Vitale’s kindness and generosity and how he’s chained to the effort that helps others quietly.

You know that you’ve heard him for years and that he was an integral part, if not the driving force to give ESPN much needed life and personality when the network was still an embryo searching for an identity. ESPN started to grow through college basketball and Vitale was the game and network’s protagonist.

And heck in the 80s, ESPN didn’t have the NBA, MLB or NFL. College basketball was ESN’s sponge and the network squeezed college basketball dry. The network ran on fumes and for its first decade, Vitale was ESPN’s face.

Kids came home from schools and they had opportunity to watch hoops all night. Vitale turned into a beloved figure, one who got the rockstar treatment when entering an arena.  Many could impersonate him with extraordinary energy. His commentary has been and still He is a cross between a rant and  New York City. Dickie V sounds like a preacher at the pulpit. The sales pitch always had the same theme; the romance and excitement of college basketball. Conventional analysis isn’t generally part of a cheerleader’s script.

Yeah, it won’t surprise me you that someone who’s irrepressible and garrulous, helped recruit top-notch players who eventually took Rutgers through an undefeated regular season and a trip to the Final Four.

He took the University of Detroit to the NCAA Tournament and had an overall record of 78-30. He was a hot name in the late 1970s in Detroit and took over as coach of the Pistons in 1978. A little more than a season, in he was fired. Like many college coaches who made the transition to the pro game, he was doomed for failure.

Even today, he is a cogent coach!

The title game Americans grew an appetite for college ball. But the three legacy networks ABC, CBS and NBC wouldn’t touch it, not night after night. ESPN, still in the cradle, born in September ’79, operated on a shoestring. So with nothing in the can and little money to spend, the Bristolites gobbled up college basketball and winter nights were never the same. Television across America is filled with hoops.

With the new-found visibility of ESPN, the fledgling Big East became a giant, an ACC a monster, and the unique Vitale the face of it all. Other conferences would emerge further, the Big Ten and the Pac-10. Only aficionados would know names like Marv Harshman and Pete Newell, other than the famous John Wooden.

Dickie V went to work with bells ringing. He traveled to arenas, large and small, well before tip-off, to greet all; Vitale became part of America’s growing college hoops’ tapestry.

He was a successful college coach at the University of Detroit and spent a little more than a year as the Pistons’ man on the bench. Not good enough for Pistons ownership. He was out of work and wanted another coaching gig. When it didn’t happen immediately, ESPN reached out. But Dickie V wanted to coach. He finally said yes, with a little nudge from his wife, Lorriane. The couple was married for fifty years. Dickie V threw himself into broadcast work and the rest is history.

Our St. John’s athletic director, the late Jack Kaiser, brought Vitale to New York to speak at a dinner at Mama Leone. He enlightened and entertained the audience and was so impassioned that he could hardly keep the mic in his hand.

Vitale’s tales about kids who suffered from cancer. He and dinner organizers, push to raise money for the effort. They’re determined to eradicate diseases. Dick Vitale’s kindness and generosity and how he’s chained to the effort that helps others quietly.

You know that you’ve heard him for years and that he was an integral part, if not the driving force to give ESPN much needed life and personality when the network was still an embryo searching for an identity. ESPN started to grow through college basketball and Vitale was the game and network’s protagonist.

And heck in the 80s, ESPN didn’t have the NBA, MLB or NFL. College basketball was ESN’s sponge and the network squeezed college basketball dry. The network ran on fumes and for its first decade, Vitale was ESPN’s face.

Kids came home from schools and they had opportunity to watch hoops all night. Vitale turned into a beloved figure, one who got the rockstar treatment when entering an arena.  Many could impersonate him with extraordinary energy. His commentary has been and still He is a cross between a rant and  New York City. Dickie V sounds like a preacher at the pulpit. The sales pitch always had the same theme; the romance and excitement of college basketball. Conventional analysis isn’t generally part of a cheerleader’s script.

Yeah, it won’t surprise me you that someone who’s irrepressible and garrulous, helped recruit top-notch players who eventually took Rutgers through an undefeated regular season and a trip to the Final Four.

He took the University of Detroit to the NCAA Tournament and had an overall record of 78-30. He was a hot name in the late 1970s in Detroit and took over as coach of the Pistons in 1978. A little more than a season, in he was fired. Like many college coaches who made the transition to the pro game, he was doomed for failure.

Even today, he is a cogent coach!