WATCH: Dick Vitale honored prior to SEC Tournament Semifinals
Dick Vitale is in high spirits at the SEC Tournament in Tampa, Florida. Ahead of the SEC Tournament Semifinals showdown between Texas A&M and Arkansas, the beloved broadcaster was given a rousing ovation by the crowd.
“@DickieV was honored at the @SEC men’s basketball tournament today in Tampa,” tweeted ESPN, accompanying a video of Vitale walking onto the court.
Moreover, the moment comes after Vitale revealed fantastic news to the college basketball world to begin March. Earlier this week, the beloved analyst took to Twitter to announce his PET scan came back clean. His cancer is gone.
“OMG ALL THE PRAYERS many of u have sent have been answered as DR Brown who heads my cancer TEAM called & said PET SCAN came back that NO CANCER is showing,” Vitale tweeted. “I feel like a coach playing for the Final 4 has a PTPer hit a shot at buzzer. My MARCH MADNESS starts with a W baby!”
What a way to start March. This is awesome news, and Dick Vitale couldn’t be happier to be back around the game of basketball. It always felt like something was missing while he was away.
More on Dick Vitale’s battle with cancer
Vitale has been chronicling his journey through cancer treatment since his lymphoma diagnosis in October. He managed to call a few college basketball games this season, including Dayton’s buzzer-beating game-winner over Kansas in November. But he ended having to step away from the microphone in January to rest his vocal cords. That led to a wealth of support from across the college basketball world — and many across the landscape chimed in on Twitter to celebrate the milestone in his journey.
As recently as last week, Vitale still wasn’t able to talk. Prior to Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, ESPN shared the letter he wrote to Coach K — and Vitale’s good friend Dave Pasch provided the voiceover.
Vitale has been a staple at ESPN since joining the network 41 years ago. He coached at the college level as an assistant at Rutgers and served as Detroit Mercy’s head coach from 1973-77. Vitale served as the Detroit Pistons head coach from 1978-79 before he got a microphone in his hand, eventually becoming one of the most beloved figures in college basketball. This was his second battle with cancer, and once again, he came out on top.
The madness hasn’t started yet, but we already have the first big March victory.