ESPN basketball icon Dick Vitale breaks his silence amid vocal cord cancer battle and shares emotional video with fans: ‘I didn’t speak for seven months’
- Vitale has found his voice after his last battle with vocal cord cancer
- He plans to return to the ESPN booth for Miami-Kentucky on Nov. 28
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Dick Vitale has regained his voice after his latest battle with vocal cord cancer, and now the 84-year-old college basketball announcer is already planning his return to the ESPN booth.
An emotional Vitale sent a video of himself and his doctor to Tampa Bay Times reporter Joey Knight on Monday — and as the former Detroit Pistons coach explained, the footage shows him speaking for the first time in seven months.
“This is the first time I’ve been able to talk,” Vitale said in his trembling, gravelly voice.
‘I’m going to do it in moderation in the coming weeks… I’m emotional. I’m excited. I haven’t said anything for seven months, you have to understand that. You are the first people in a long time to hear my voice.”
The famously comprehensive Vitale underwent radiotherapy in September, which went “remarkably well” according to his doctor.
Dick Vitale (left) speaks again, thanks to Dr. Steven Zeitels of Mass General (right)
Vitale, a former coach at Detroit Mercy and the NBA’s Pistons, is a celebrated broadcaster
“At this point he can start using his voice,” says Dr. Steven Zeitels, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation. ‘He’ll see how long it takes to recover. We had planned to look under the microscope in the operating room (Tuesday), but it looks so terrible that we are going to wait for that because I don’t see any evidence of the cancer.’
Vitale may undergo further surgery to improve his voice later.
“Given the remarkable recovery he has had in recent weeks, patience is the best course of action now, and let’s see how Dick can heal himself and get back to doing what he loves,” Zeitels said.
The next step comes on Nov. 28, when Vitale hopes to return to the Lexington booth for Miami-Kentucky at Rupp Arena.
Vitale has defeated cancer before, having survived previous battles with melanoma and lymphoma.
He has also become synonymous with the disease through his charity work as a board member at the V Foundation, which is named after his friend, broadcasting partner and former North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano, who died of cancer in 1993.