Dick Vitale Announces Recurrence of Cancer in Lymph Node

The 85-year-old broadcasting legend vowed to "win this battle."

Dick Vitale, an analyst and champion of college basketball for more than four decades on ESPN, begins to get his voice back as he recovers from cancer treatment and recent vocal cord surgery at home in Lakewood Ranch, Florida on Thursday, March 24, 2022. / Jack Gruber / USA TODAY NETWORK

Legendary ESPN college basketball announcer Dick Vitale has cancer in a lymph node, he announced in a Friday afternoon social media post.

"My report on the Biopsy of the Lymph Node in my neck has arrived & it is cancerous," Vitale wrote. "With all the (prayers) I have received & the loving support of my family, friends & ESPN colleagues I will win this battle. Surgery on (Tuesday) will be a success. Thanks for All the prayers."

The diagnosis follows several years of on-and-off health problems for the 85-year-old Vitale, who has worked for ESPN since it began airing college hoops in Dec. 1979. Vitale has suffered from melanoma, lymphoma, lesions on his vocal cords and laryngeal cancer since 2021 alone; he most recently announced he was cancer-free in December.

While battling various illnesses, Vitale has continued to champion anti-cancer causes, including the V Foundation created by his late friend and former NC State coach Jim Valvano.

Vitale, whose infectious energy is often credited with helping raise college basketball's profile as a national television product, coached Detroit and the Detroit Pistons in the 1970s before entering the media sphere.