ESPN analyst Vitale announces cancer diagnosis

ESPN

Jun 28, 2024, 05:42 PM ET

ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale announced Friday that he will have surgery to remove cancer from his neck.

In a post on X, Vitale said a biopsy of a lymph node in his neck showed cancer.

Vitale said surgery is scheduled for Tuesday.

My report on the Biopsy of the Lymph Node in my neck has arrived & it is cancerous . With all the 🙏🙏🙏 I have received & the loving support of my family,friends & @espn colleagues I will win this battle .🙏🙏🙏 surgery on Tues. will be a success . Thanks for All the prayers.

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) June 28, 2024 This is the latest cancer diagnosis for Vitale, 85.

In 2021, Vitale was diagnosed with lymphoma, months after he had multiple surgeries to remove melanoma. He chronicled his treatments and recovery on social media, posting photos of doctor visits and hospital stays while issuing motivational tips recorded before he was put on voice rest. In 2022, he announced that he was cancer-free. Vitale had vocal cord cancer last summer and underwent radiation treatment. In November, he announced he was cancer-free but had to push back a return to ESPN broadcasts.

Vitale said in a message shared by ESPN PR that he feels “fantastic physically” and plans to do “everything that I can control in winning this latest new setback.”

Received this text from @DickieV, on the heels of his latest cancer diagnosis today. Cut and pasted as he sent it; he asked me to share. He’s incredible, and has the love and support of countless friends, family, colleagues and complete strangers he’s inspired. pic.twitter.com/RcYKAYA0f4

— Josh Krulewitz (@jksports) June 29, 2024 A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the College Basketball Hall of Fame, Vitale has been with ESPN since 1979, the year the network launched. He called ESPN’s first college basketball broadcast.