Dick Vitale breaks down while reflecting on cancer battle in last game of season: 'I'm praying I can be back next year'

Mar 1, 2025; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; ESPN analyst Dick Vitale before the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Alabama Crimson Tide at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images — No one is happier to be calling college basketball games than Dick Vitale. (Randy Sartin-Imagn Images)

Duke's win in the ACC tournament championship game marked the final game of the season for legendary ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale, who made it back to the table this year after battles with four different types of cancer.

As the final minutes of the broadcast ticked down, Vitale broke down in tears while reflecting on his four-year battle and what the return to ESPN meant for him. The 85-year-old vociferously thanked his co-broadcasters Cory Alexander and Dave O'Brien as well as the ESPN crew and executives Jimmy Pitaro, David Ceisler and Mike McQuade.

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Vitale noted his doctor had assigned him a week of voice rest after the game, and said he was praying he'll be healthy to call games next season. He also offered encouraging words to fellow cancer patients and noted the importance of showing support to the people who need it, as several college coaches and others did for him one lonely night.

An emotional Dick Vitale shares a parting message at the end of the final game he'll call this season.

"It's been like, to me, a miracle, really, to sit here with you guys. I can't tell you how much you meant to me. It's been unbelievable...Cancer sucks." pic.twitter.com/30Iay7kLl2
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 16, 2025

Vitale's words:

"It's my last game this year and I'm praying, hoping I can be back next year, maybe even be better, hope and pray my doctor helps me with my voice. I have to listen to my doctor. Right now, he told me voice rest right after this game for a week. I want to thank all of the fans, all of the people who have been so beautiful, all my people at ESPN tolerating and putting up with me in terms of issues I've had. You've been great. Jimmy Pitaro, David Seisler, Mike McQuaide, all of you have been so good to me. I can't thank you enough.

"It's been to me a miracle, really, to sit here with you guys, I can't tell you how much it meant to me. It's been unbelievable. Tough three years, those four cancer battles, I don't wish on anybody. Cancer sucks. I'll tell you this, anybody battling cancer, please listen. Think positive, always, and have faith and believe, and if you're out there, a person who knows somebody with cancer, send them a text message. Make a phone call. The bottom line, it means so much.

"I know it meant a lot to me in my darkest moment when I was in the hospital doing chemo. Had a bad, bad day and man, it was a tough, tough time. I had to stay overnight. My family left and I broke up crying like crazy. That nurse came in and she cheered me up, and then I went to my phone and on my phone were messages from all over the country. Rick Barnes, Tom Izzo, [John] Calipari, coaches."

Vitale returned to ESPN on Feb. 8, another Duke game, and was similarly emotional. The last time he had appeared in a broadcast was the international feed of the 2023 national championship game between UConn and San Diego State.

He was initially diagnosed with melanoma in the summer of 2021, with a subsequent diagnosis of lymphoma months later. After making his return in the fall of 2021, he was again forced to step away to undergo surgery on his vocal cords. He confirmed in the summer of 2023 the cancer had reached his vocal cords, and later his lymph nodes, meaning he has had to battle four types of cancer in four years.

After undergoing radiation therapy, chemotherapy and more surgery, Vitale finally announced he was cancer-free earlier in January.

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