ESPN Analyst Dick Vitale Has Cancer In Lymph Node, Will Have Surgery On Tuesday – Updated

UPDATED with latest: Veteran ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale offered an update on his years-long battle with cancer today, and it was a tough one.

“My report on the Biopsy of the Lymph Node in my neck has arrived & it is cancerous,” wrote Vitale. He went on to note he will have surgery on Tuesday before pledging, “I will win this battle.”

Vitale has been with ESPN since 1979, the year the network launched. He called ESPN’s first college basketball broadcast. His trademark cry of “Awesome, baby,” has marked hundreds of hoop moments.

In 2021, Vitale was diagnosed with lymphoma, months after he had multiple surgeries to remove melanoma. In 2022, he announced that he was cancer-free, before announcing in 2023 that he had vocal chord cancer. He underwent surgery for that shortly after making the annoucement.

PREVIOUSLY on July 12, 2023: ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale said Wednesday that his battle with cancer continues, as he once again has vocal cord cancer.

The 84-year-old Vitale posted on Twitter that he will need six weeks of radiation to treat it.

“I plan to fight like hell to be ready to call games when the college hoops season tips off in the Fall,” Vitale wrote.

Vitale had a procedure in July and was on voice rest for 6-8 weeks. That’s when it was discovered that his past issues have returned.

Vitale has been with ESPN since 1979, the year the network launched. He called ESPN’s first college basketball broadcast. His trademark cry of “Awesome, baby,” has marked hundreds of hoop moments.

In 2021, Vitale was diagnosed with lymphoma, months after he had multiple surgeries to remove melanoma. Last year, he announced that he was cancer-free.

Vitale has been active in fundraising efforts against cancer, raising more than $50 million for the V Foundation for Cancer Research, the foundation of his former Rutgers colleague and longtime friend, Jim Valvano.