Richard John Vitale (; born June 9, 1939), also known as "Dickie V", is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

sportscaster. A former head coach in the college and professional ranks, he is well known for his 41-year tenure as a college basketball broadcaster for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. He is known for catchphrases such as "This is awesome, baby!" and "diaper dandy" (outstanding freshman player), as well as his enthusiastic and colorful remarks during games. He has also written nine books, and appeared in several films.

Early life and education

Vitale was born in

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,7 ...

, and grew up in Garfield, New Jersey. He moved to East Paterson (now Elmwood Park) in his freshman year of high school. His father, John, was a piece work clothing press operator and had a second job as a security guard. His mother, Mae, worked in a factory as a seamstress and sewed coats until she suffered a stroke. Vitale graduated from

East Rutherford High School East Rutherford High School was a public high school that operated as part of the East Rutherford School District in East Rutherford, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. History The district's initial high school program began in 1896 ...

, and in 1963, he graduated from

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...

with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. He later earned a master's degree in education from Paterson State College.

Coaching

High school coaching

Vitale took his first job as a coach at an elementary school in Garfield, New Jersey in 1958. Eventually he moved up to the high school level to become head coach at Garfield High School for one season, and then at

(his alma mater), where he had a record of 131–47 from 1964 to 1971 and led his teams to two New Jersey state championships.

College coaching

In 1971, Vitale moved to

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

as an assistant coach under head coach Dick Lloyd. After two seasons there, he was hired in 1973 by the University of Detroit to become its head coach. Vitale took

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

to the 32-team NCAA tournament in 1977. Vitale had a 78–30 record during his tenure at Detroit, which included a 21-game winning streak during the 1977 season. During that streak the Titans defeated the eventual champion Marquette, on the road, in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Following the 1977 season, his fourth as Detroit head coach, Vitale was named the university's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

NBA coaching

Vitale left the Titans and college basketball to coach the Detroit Pistons of the NBA in the 1978–79 Detroit Pistons season, leading them to a 30–52 (.366) record. Vitale was hospitalized with stress related stomach issues during his first season on the bench in Detroit as the team struggled. In his second year, on November 8, 1979, Pistons owner Bill Davidson came to Vitale's house and told him that the Pistons were making a coaching change. It was twelve games into the 1979–80 Detroit Pistons season, and with the Pistons off to a 4–8 start, Vitale was fired. A significant reason for Vitale's downfall with the Pistons was the maneuver that brought Bob McAdoo to Detroit.

M.L. Carr Michael Leon Carr (born January 9, 1951) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and American Basketball Association (ABA), and former head coach and General Manager of the Boston Celtics. ...

's decision to sign with

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

as a free agent in 1979 spawned a transaction in which the Pistons, with Vitale in charge of player personnel, entitled to compensation for Carr, demanded McAdoo, whom the Celtics were looking to unload due to injuries. The Pistons sent two 1980 first-round draft picks (in addition to Carr) to the Celtics in exchange for McAdoo in a combination free agent signing/trade. The Pistons would have the worst season in franchise history in 1979–80, and their pick would become the first overall pick in the 1980 draft. Boston then traded the two picks to the Warriors (who selected

Joe Barry Carroll Joe Barry Carroll (born July 24, 1958) is an American former professional basketball player who spent ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After retiring from basketball, he became a wealth advisor, philanthropist, artist, a ...

with the number 1 pick and

Rickey Brown Rickey Darnell Brown (born August 29, 1958) is an American former professional basketball player. At a height of 2.08 m (6'10") tall, he played at the power forward and center positions. High school Brown attended and played high school basket ...

with the number 13 pick) in exchange for Robert Parish and the number 3 pick ( Kevin McHale).

Head coaching record

College

NBA

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Broadcasting

Following his departure as coach of the Detroit Pistons, Scotty Connal gave Vitale his first TV opportunity at the then fledgling

cable network. His first reaction to the job of broadcaster was "Absolutely no way. I know nothing about TV. I want to get back to where I belong and my spirit belongs." He was reluctant to accept the position but his wife Lorraine told him to "go on TV and have some fun", so Vitale accepted on a temporary basis until another coaching job became available. He called ESPN's first

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

game on December 5, 1979, when DePaul defeated

90–77. His first play-by-play partner was Joe Boyle. Vitale was not a natural at first for broadcasting. He missed his first-ever production meeting when he was walking the streets of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. Also, he would talk while the producers were talking to him through his earpiece, during commercials, and while the play-by-play man was talking. Vitale himself was not sure if broadcasting would fit him. Connal, who had hired him, told him, "You have a quality we can't teach." Vitale did not understand this until many people wanted his autograph at the 1983 Final Four. He credits a lot of his success to working with Jim Simpson at the beginning of his career. In 1985, after the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...

acquired ESPN, Vitale also began doing broadcasts on the ABC network. In 1999, Vitale was featured in a series of thirty-second promo shorts for "Hoops Malone". The shorts, which aired in heavy rotation on ESPN, were presented as a sitcom featuring Vitale,

George Gervin George Gervin ( ; born April 27, 1952), nicknamed "the Iceman", is an American former professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Virginia Squires, ...

and others, including a puppet called "O'Hoolix". ESPN promoted "Hoops" with banners and other marketing premiums, with the idea of generating buzz about the show, but no actual episodes were ever produced. Though this led to an offer for Vitale to do an actual sitcom, he turned down the opportunity. In December 2002, Vitale called a St. Vincent – St. Mary's– Oak Hill Academy prep game, featuring then high school phenom LeBron James. He announced the game with

Dan Shulman Daniel Shulman is a Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet as well as the American network ESPN. Shulman serves as a play-by-play announcer for select Toronto Blue Jays telecasts on Sportsnet and during 2018 and 2020 he hosted the baseball-th ...

and NBA great Bill Walton. By the 2004–05 season, Vitale was doing approximately 40 games a year. Vitale is signed with ESPN through the 2022–23 college basketball season. In February 2015, ESPN removed Vitale from covering

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...

UNC UNC is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to: Education * University of Northern California (disambiguation), which may refer to: ** University of Northern California (Santa Rosa), in Petaluma, California, United States ** University of No ...

basketball. He had covered every Duke-UNC game televised by ESPN since 1979. Vitale is a voter on the AP Top 25 men's basketball polls, the annual Naismith Award and the John Wooden Award. Vitale called his first NBA game on television since the 1984 NBA playoffs, along with

, on January 7, 2009 when the Miami Heat played the Denver Nuggets as ESPN swapped its NBA and NCAA crews. During ESPN's first incarnation covering the NBA, he regularly covered games.

Broadcasting partners

As of 2009, Vitale had called close to a thousand games. Vitale, a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

, is primarily paired with play-by-play announcers

Mike Patrick Michael Patrick (born September 9, 1944) is a retired American sportscaster, known for his long tenure with ESPN. Early career Patrick began his broadcasting career in the fall of 1966 at WVSC-Radio in Somerset, Pennsylvania. In 1970, he was ...

, primarily those in the ACC games; and

for Saturday Primetime and other non-ACC games. During the postseason, he appears as an in-studio analyst with host Rece Davis and fellow analysts

Jay Bilas Jay Scot Bilas (born December 24, 1963) is an American college basketball analyst who currently works for ESPN. Bilas is a former professional basketball player and coach who played for and served as an assistant under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke Uni ...

Digger Phelps Richard Frederick "Digger" Phelps (born July 4, 1941) is an American former college basketball coach, most notably of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 1971 to 1991. For 20 years, from 1993 to 2014, he served as an analyst on ESPN. He got the n ...

Hubert Davis Hubert Ira Davis Jr. (born May 17, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching career, Davis played for North Carolina from 19 ...

, and Bob Knight. Previously, he has been paired with Keith Jackson,

Roger Twibell Roger Claude Twibell is an American sportscaster, who most recently calling Arkansas State Red Wolves football broadcasts on ESPN+ in 2018. In 2019 he served as a commentator for the international broadcast of the Masters Tournament. He has work ...

, and

Brent Musburger Brent Woody Musburger (born May 26, 1939) is an American sportscaster, currently the lead broadcaster and managing editor at Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN). With CBS Sports from 1973 until 1990, he was one of the original members ...

for ABC as well as Jim Simpson, Tim Brando, Mike Tirico, Dave O'Brien, Sean McDonough and Brad Nessler. He worked in the studio with

Bob Ley Robert A. Ley ( ; born March 16, 1955) is an American sports anchor and reporter, best known for his work at ESPN. A multiple Emmy Award-winner, he was the longest-tenured on-air employee of the network, having joined ESPN just three days after ...

, John Saunders, Tirico, and

Chris Fowler Chris Fowler (born ) is an American sports broadcaster for ESPN, who serves as the play-by-play announcer for ''Saturday Night Football'' on ABC and ESPN’s tennis coverage. He is also known for his work on '' College GameDay'', which he ho ...

as well as Jim Valvano.

Awards and honors

Basketball *University of Detroit named their basketball court "Dick Vitale Court" in his honor (2011). Broadcasting *2019 Sports Emmy Award - Lifetime Achievement ESPY Awards *2022

Jimmy V Award The Jimmy V Award (sometimes called the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance) is awarded as part of the ESPY Awards to "a deserving member of the sporting world who has overcome great obstacles through perseverance and determination". The award is na ...

Halls of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

* Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2008) * College Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2008) * Little League Museum Hall of Excellence inductee (class of 2012). * NSMA Hall of Fame (class of 2013) * New Jersey Hall of Fame inductee (class of 2016). * Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (class of 2020).

Appearances in other media

Video games

Dick Vitale lent his name, voice and likeness to the 1994 Sega Genesis college basketball

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

, '' Dick Vitale's "Awesome, Baby!" College Hoops'', developed and sold by

Time Warner Interactive Time Warner Interactive (Group) (TWI) was a studio within Time Warner and a predecessor of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It was formed in 1993 after Time Warner bought a controlling interest in Atari Games, and was active until 1996 w ...

and only released in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Later, Vitale and Brad Nessler provided the commentator voices for EA Sports' NCAA Basketball (formerly NCAA March Madness)

series until its 2010 discontinuation.

Books

In 2004, Vitale released a descriptive

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

co-written with Dick Weiss, entitled ''Living a Dream''. The book has several thoughts and comments on his days with the Pistons and ESPN, and memories of former NC State basketball Coach Jim Valvano.

Product endorsements

Vitale has appeared in commercials for DiGiorno pizza, Oberto beef jerky, the Airborne Athletics basketball training device Dr. Dish, GEICO and Hooters restaurants. Appearing in early 1990s Taco Bell TV ads promoting the 7-layer burrito, Vitale exclaimed, "It's 'Sevendipity,' baby !!

Films and television

In 1988, Vitale had a cameo appearance as a baseball color commentator, sharing the crowded broadcast booth with Curt Gowdy, Jim Palmer,

Dick Enberg Richard Alan Enberg (January 9, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including ...

Mel Allen Mel Allen (born Melvin Allen Israel; February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996) was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940 ...

, Tim McCarver and Joyce Brothers in '' The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!''. He guest starred on '' The Cosby Show'' along with friend Jim Valvano as furniture movers in the eighth-season episode '' The Getaway''. Other film appearances have generally been Vitale playing himself and commentating the fictional games occurring in those films.

Film roles

*'' The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!'' (1988) – Baseball Announcer #1 *''

Blue Chips ''Blue Chips'' is a 1994 American sports drama film, directed by William Friedkin, written by Ron Shelton and starring Nick Nolte as a college coach trying to recruit a winning team. His players were portrayed by actors as well as real-life ...

'' (1994) – Himself *'' Jury Duty'' (1995) – Hal Gibson *'' The Sixth Man'' (1997) – Himself *''

He Got Game ''He Got Game'' is a 1998 American sports drama film written, produced and directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. The film revolves around Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington), father of the top-ranked basketball pr ...

'' (1998) – Himself *'' Love & Basketball'' (2000) – Himself *''Complete Guide to Guys'' (2005) – Himself *''

Home of the Giants ''Home of the Giants'' is a 2007 American sports crime drama film written and directed by Rusty Gorman and starring Haley Joel Osment, Ryan Merriman and Danielle Panabaker. The film has been described as a coming of age tale and sports drama. Plo ...

'' (2007) – Himself *'' Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil'' (2012) - Viking Mayor

Personal life

Vitale married Lorraine McGrath in 1971. The couple have two daughters, Terri and Sherri, and five grandchildren. He has lived in

Lakewood Ranch, Florida Lakewood Ranch is a planned community and census-designated place in southeastern Manatee County and northeastern Sarasota County, Florida, United States, consisting of approximately . It is part of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, Florida Me ...

in the greater Tampa Bay area since the 1990s and has become a well-known fan of the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

Lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...

, and Rays. He is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

. In August 2021, Vitale announced that he was undergoing treatment to remove melanoma that had been discovered by doctors. In October of the same year, Vitale also announced that his doctors had diagnosed him with lymphoma which he would seek treatment to combat. In January 2022, ESPN announced Vitale would not commentate any more college basketball games that season.

Publications

Vitale has authored fourteen books, including: * ''Dickie V's ABCs and 1-2-3s'', Ascend Books (October 2010) * ''Living a Dream: Reflections on 25 Years Sitting in the Best Seat'', Champaign, IL Sports Publishing LLC (January 1, 2003) * ''Dick Vitale's Fabulous 50 Players and Moments in College Basketball: From the Best Seat in the House During My 30 Years at ESPN'', Ascend Books (October 6, 2008) * ''Time Out Baby!'', Berkley (December 1, 1992) * ''Vitale'', Simon and Schuster; 1st Edition (1988) * ''Dickie V's Top 40 All-Everything Teams'', Masters Press (June 1994) * ''Tourney Time: It's Awesome Baby!'', Masters Press (December 1993) * ''Holding Court: Reflections on the Game I Love'', Masters Press (November 1995) * ''Campus Chaos: Why the Game I Love Is Breaking My Heart'', Sideline Sports Publishing (December 1999) * ''Getting a W in the Game of Life: Using My T.E.A.M. Model to Motivate, Elevate, and Be Great'' (Oct. 2012) *''Dick Vitale's Mount Rushmores'' ''of College Basketball''; Nico 11 Publishing (2018) * ''The Lost Season: A Look at What the Journey to the 2020 National Championship Could Have Been'' (June 2020)

References

External links

Dick Vitale Online

Vitale's "V-File" at ESPN.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vitale, Dick 1939 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American people of Italian descent American Roman Catholics Basketball coaches from New Jersey College basketball announcers in the United States Detroit Pistons head coaches Detroit Mercy Titans athletic directors Detroit Mercy Titans men's basketball coaches East Rutherford High School alumni High school basketball coaches in New Jersey Indiana Pacers announcers Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees People from East Rutherford, New Jersey People from Elmwood Park, New Jersey Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball coaches Seton Hall University alumni Sportspeople from Passaic, New Jersey William Paterson University alumni Writers from New Jersey