ESPN legend Dick Vitale reveals he has been diagnosed with cancer for a third time

Longtime ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale has revealed the heartbreaking news that he has been handed a THIRD cancer diagnosis.

Vitale tweeted on Wednesday evening that he had surgery in Boston this week, and tests revealed that he has vocal cord cancer. He said he will undergo six weeks of radiation treatments.

‘I plan to fight like hell to be ready to call games when the college hoops season kicks off in the fall,’ Vitale tweeted, adding that his doctor ‘feels that scenario is entirely possible.’

The 84-year-old Vitale has previously been treated for melanoma and lymphoma. He celebrated being cancer-free in April of last year.

Vitale helped friend Jim Valvano to the stage at the 1993 ESPYs, where Valvano delivered his famous ‘Don’t give up’ speech. Valvano died of adenocarcinoma less than two months later.

Vitale announced he was cancer free in 2022, but has now been given another diagnosis 

Vitale, now 84, is a former head coach at the University of Detroit from 1973 until 1977 

A former head coach at the University of Detroit from 1973 until 1977 who went on to coach the NBA’s Pistons for two seasons, New Jersey native Vitale joined ESPN shortly after the network’s launch in 1979.

Since then, he has become synonymous with college basketball, coining terms like ‘diaper dandy’ (a good freshman player) and ‘PTPer’ (prime-time player) while helping to popularize the sport from coast to coast.

He was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the NCAA Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Vitale has also raised money for cancer research through The V Foundation, which is named for Valvano.