Dick Vitale’s ESPN Return Delayed by New Health Scare

Dick Vitale’s long-awaited return to college basketball announcing has been deferred again.

ESPN had announced earlier this week Vitale would call his first game since 2023 next Saturday when Duke plays Wake Forest after he has been out battling vocal cord cancer.

Unfortunately, the network announced Saturday that Vitale, 85, suffered an accident in his Florida home and will remain sidelined indefinitely. 

“I’m sorry to have to share the disappointing news that I won’t be able to call the Duke-Wake Forest game next weekend,” Vitale said in a statement released by ESPN PR at 3:45 p.m. ET on Saturday.

“Unrelated to any of my cancer scares, I had an accident at my home in Florida, and that has created some new health challenges and near-term physical limitations for me.”

Vitale said he was “devastated” he will not be able to return yet to the ESPN announce booth alongside play-by-play broadcaster Dave O’Brien, especially after receiving an “overwhelming response” from his many admirers that he’d beaten cancer and would be mounting a comeback. 

Vitale called his first game for ESPN in 1979, the first year of the network’s existence, and has been a venerable announcer with his trademark ebullience ever since. ESPN and hoops fans are eager for his return as the college basketball season heats up and gets closer to March Madness.

“Now I’m just going to have to wait some more. I’m not sure exactly when that will be, yet I’m expected to make a full recovery and will provide updates when I have more information,” Vitale continued. “Despite this latest setback, I feel blessed to have the support of my family, friends, and ESPN teammates. I’m a lucky guy and as I’ve said before, I will continue to do whatever it takes to get back to calling the sport I love.”

He concluded the statement by exclaiming, “Go Irish!” in the hopes that Notre Dame defeats Ohio State in the College Football Playoff national championship Monday night.

Four hours after the initial statement from ESPN PR on Saturday, Vitale tweeted more detail: “I’m recovering from a tough fall & being kept active at the hospital. Good news is the neurosurgeons have said I am making great strides … sorry that I can’t get at courtside as was planned.”