Dick Vitale: Legendary Voice of College Basketball

25:00We were coming home from the concert. I said, I didn't know you operated on James Taylor. He said, well, I never tell you, Dick, because he never publicized it. He said, it's private, you know, unless they publicize it. And they'll put it all over national TV. So did Stephen Tyler. But that was a tough time. But you know what? I've learned in life. A lot of people get a lot tougher than I've ever had. I'm losing my eye. My parents used to say, hey, don't feel sorry for yourself. People got it worse. You can be somebody, Richie. One eye, you can be somebody. You can do what you want to do. And I'm so lucky that I had a mom and dad that inspired me so much.

25:38I ask this because the ladies that were putting on your daughter's wedding even told me they had to stick you in confessional before the wedding just to keep you from talking to people. So after the surgery, you couldn't speak for three and a half weeks. It was tough. What's that like? I'd go to the Broken Egg where I go, or at First Watch, now I'm going both places, and I'd have cardboard. I know my wife, maybe, were in there, but in a draw, we used to have these things I used to write on, write notes on. People would come over and I'd say, I can't speak, and all about, how are you, and all that stuff, and it was tough.

26:13And the toughest for me was, I'll never forget this, it's about four and a half, it was a little more than three and a half weeks, It was longer than that. It might have been five weeks. I'm not sure. But it was a long period of time. So now it was time for me to go back to see him. And he said to me when I walked in the office, he said, speak to me. And I couldn't. He'll tell you this if you ever interview me. I couldn't get words out like that. He said, speak to me. I was afraid, fearful of what's going to come out. Because you read all reports of the surgery. Sometimes you don't sound like you didn't know.

26:46And I was afraid of what was coming out. and fortunately he had me count to 10, 1, 2, 3 of them, then do the alphabet, A, B, C. Like a little kid, man, you're in your late 60s at the time, or whatever I was, and I'm there trying to learn the art of how to speak. And since then, I have followed his rules. He has a bunch of rules. He does it with his singers as well. Number one, I don't do double headers anymore. I don't do two games in one night. Okay. Don't do that. Number two, I try to avoid 99 % of the time I don't do back-to-back games. I don't do that. Number three, days of games, I try to be as low-key.

27:27ESPN, what happened to me, if I went to do a game and I went to a shoot-around, right? I go to a shoot-around. All the local TV, and I never say no to anyone, Graham. I really, I try to be a person to never forget where I came from. Somebody's trying to start out with their career. They're looking to get ahead. You know, it might be a big thrill for them to interview somebody that's been on TV. And I don't want to hurt anybody. I don't want to say no. So I'd be talked out by the time the game would start. So what they do now at ESPN, they get a room. And I go out a few minutes with the kids, side autographs, take pictures.

28:02And I go in a room and relax my throat before a game. He came to a game, and he did a test on me. He and his people, they did a test on when I used my throat. They did the same on Steven Tyler on a concert. And he said, you know, you've got to really understand this is your living. And if you want to, he said, Dick, I can get you a lot more years. And this has been, oh, man, I think the operation, my mind tells me, it's like 2007, about 2007. Here it is, eight years later, I've had eight incredible years. Right. And some good money. So I owe him a lot of money, man. He ought to get more than my agent gets.

28:41Didn't you go to a vocal coach? Oh, yeah, I get one. I get one regularly. In fact, he's supposed to be here today. Okay. And because you're here, you've taken his spot, and he's going to be here next week. And he goes through some routine I've got to do. It's unbelievable. What are the exercises? Well, you know, there's a lot of crazy, crazy exercises like, oh, my God, just different sounds, you know, different things that I have to do. Am I putting you on the spot? Put me on the spot? No, no, it's basically, you know, every day, every week it changes. He brings in all kinds of new sayings. I got them underneath my, what do you call them, over there.

29:21Gosh, I'm drawing a blank here for it. But basically, he brings in new sayings for me with certain words that are tough to get out. Uh-huh. And how does that help? It helps a lot. It helps you to utilize. And he works on me doing stuff of my age to do a lot from here. Okay. They actually do a little singing, like Roll, Row the Boat, all that jazz. Really? My country, Tisody. And try and do it from... Yeah, try and do it from here, as opposed to speaking from here. John Farrar is a name, and he's absolutely terrific. He does a great, great job. I'm always embarrassed to say some of the stuff I do.

30:05It's really, it's comical. My wife laughs and she hears me doing that stuff. But I'm sure successful singers do the same sort of training. I'm sure they do. I'm sure they do these routines before they go out to warm up your vocal cords. What did your wife say to you the first time she heard you doing it? She's laughing hysterically. I wanted to know if that stuff helps at all. And I really believe it does help. I really do. Because I find myself forcing myself to speak from here as opposed from here. But it's interesting. Some of the stuff that I do, you'll be hysterical. If you want to see something, I'll get right under my desk there.

30:45Get them right there. I'll do a few for you. Unless they took them away, but they were underneath that right there. They should have been underneath there. Oh, they're not. They hid it. Yeah, right there. Some of the sayings. I'm a reading lesson. The skunk sat on a stump And thunk the stump Stunk But the stump thunk The skunk stunk Five fine Florida florists Fried fresh flat flounder fish Filet Oh man And you try and speak that from the If a noisy noise annoys an onion An annoying noisy noise Annoys an onion more and I mean these are the kind of stuff he brings you that's why you ask the mix a box of mixed biscuits with a boxed this is a tough one mix a box of mixed biscuits with a boxed biscuit mixer the instinct of an extinct insect stinks I mean these are it's comical but if we do these regularly we've been doing them for 7-8 years now and it works It's just unbelievable.

32:02You're blind in your left eye. Explain what happened. You know, I'm told so many things. When I was a youngster, supposedly I pointed a pencil in my arm prior to when I'm four or five, and my eye lost the vision in the eye, damaging us to the cornea or whatever. And just, I don't know what it is to have two eyes, to be honest with you. I don't know what it is, so I don't miss it. I don't feel I could do anything anybody else does, except I was told young, don't play football. And I was playing, this is unbelievable, I was playing eighth grade football. My parents did not know I was playing. I was playing eighth grade football, and I was the quarterback.

32:44I was pretty good. Taking that T, roll out, I was pretty good. You were a good athlete. I mean, you almost pitched a perfect game, too. Yeah, I was a decent athlete. In my own dreams, I thought I was better. You read about the perfect game, though. That's another story. But anyway, I'm playing, and a guy writes in a column, a famous writer. For us, he was famous, local. He was a local columnist. He covered a high school scene in our area. His name was Augie Leo. And he wrote in his column something to the effect. I don't know word for word, obviously. Hey, Garfield better forget about it. Garfield was always famous when I went to school for running the single wing, not the T formation.

33:26back in those days. Garfield better forget about the single way. They got a young phenom in the eighth grade, man. You'd see this kid, Richie Vitale, raw. When I came home, my uncles, who were sports fanatics, came in and told my mother if I was playing football. They went ballistic because that was the one sport the doctor said with my eye not to take a chance. So I did stay away and I pitched a little. And you know what? Pitching, you mentioned that pitching. I just gave a little lecture to my grandsons recently. They were playing Little League baseball, and I went to watch them, and they had a good team.

34:02They won the regional, they won the district, came close a couple of games away from maybe going to the southeast regional and go on to women's sport. They had a real good team. But the one thing that disturbed me watching the kids play was all the curveballs I was seeing. I couldn't believe it. And my son-in-law, I told you earlier, is a hand-shoulder elbow surgeon. So I called him on the phone. I said, Chris, am I wrong? These kids, should they be throwing curveballs, 11 and 12? He said, no, but some people will tell them that if you throw it the right way, it's not going to put any strain on.

34:36And he said, that's definitely wrong. So we make sure our kids don't. Now, I remember me as a kid. You mentioned there was one game in particular I made the All-Stars. I got the article in my desk there to show my grandkids because they didn't believe me. I struck out 15 out of the 18 batters, six innings, three outs an inning. At the last batter, I got a perfect game, and the kid's a ground ball down to first, and they gave him a hit. My uncles went nuts in the stands because they put a shimmy in the air, and at least a no-hitter because I struck the next guy out. But they took away the perfect game, the no-hitter, the whole bit.

35:11But when I got the next year, I was like 12 and a half, going to go to play 13-year-old baseball. A guy taught me how to throw a curveball. And once you get the feeling as a kid of throwing that ball and seeing it curve, you start to do what? They'll always tell you, well, it's okay if you throw a couple of them, but you don't throw a couple of them because by the time I got in high school when they thought I was going to be a decent pitcher on a high school team, I couldn't throw the ball through a glass plate window. My elbow was absolutely pained all the time. In those days, there was no such thing as Tommy John surgery and all that.

35:49But I probably would have been a candidate for that. My baseball was over. What do you remember from the infection you got in your eye? That was probably worse than... That I do remember. I don't remember the poking in the eye as a little baby or a kid, two, three years old. But I do remember the infection. It was the start of my junior year. I couldn't go out in the sun. If I went out in the sun, I was like this all the time. I mean, it was pus coming out of my eye. My mother was going from one doctor to another. And we're getting different advice. A lot of them were saying, we should take the eye out.

36:25Take the eye out, because he can't see it in any way. Take it out. And the doctor said, no, don't take it out, because you never know later's techniques. We'll try this medicine. And finally, my family physician, Dr. Joseph Latona, who delivered us, and he was a great guy, Dr. Latona told my mother, I'm going to try to get him an appointment. He said, there's a genius in the eyes in New York, at the New York Eye and New York Hospital. I believe that's what it was called his name is Dr. Bernard Samuels and I'm going to try to get an appointment with him and I went to him and I was like 15, 16 at the time I went to his office and said to me I'll never forget it, son don't let anybody because he was old, he was probably at the time in his late 60s don't let anyone tell you that the lies should come out he said I'm going to do a procedure on you and you're not going to have any more problem with the son, with the I'm going to take care of that.

37:21I can't take care of your vision. That's been damaged. Well, he did that, and it was like, oh, my God. I could walk in the sun. I could walk outside. And I want to share this because I finally shared it in my book. You know, we hear so much today about bullying. We hear so much today where kids embarrass people, humiliate people. Adults do it. I think back of my days in the Little League. My eye used to go on the sun. I could never look you straight in the eye. If I were doing an interview now with you in my olden days, my eye, I would be like this. I'd never let you know that I can't. If I looked at you like this, you would turn and look because my eye would go out here.

38:04So when I was pitching in the Little League, I didn't realize it was like knives going through me. Adults screaming. Hey, does that kid know where he's throwing? Look at his eye, man. Does he know where he's throwing? And I'd go home. And my mother would come to my room.

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39:13I can feel it today. I would go, and I would cry like a baby. So I hurt. I'd look at the mirror. And I couldn't look at the mirror. My eye was going, I couldn't control it. It was something totally out of my control. I had no control about that. And it was to bother me. Bother me, you wouldn't even ask girls out for a date. She felt like, do you want to look at me? And it was just a tough mentally a time and getting teased all the time. And I beg people out there. I beg people, help people that have a dilemma. Don't hurt them. Don't hurt them or put knives to them. It might be you. It might be someone you love.

40:00In essence, I was really bullied. And I didn't realize it. I tried to make jokes. Guys say, hey, man, you know where you're throwing? Look at your eye. And I laughed until I go in my room. I didn't laugh. Why does even today thinking back about that make you so emotional? It just, I don't know. It brings back such unbelievable memories to me. There's certain things in my life because I sit here today. I'm like a little kid who can't believe what's happened in my life. I wake up every day. My wife always tells me, you know, gee, would you act like this is something new to you, having some success.

40:38but I think it's unbelievable what's happening. It all happened because I learned two things from my mom and dad. Two things, and I could hear them telling me today. My mother would say to me, fifth grade education. My parents, if they had a fifth grade education, they had a lot. But they had a doctorate of love. I got so much love at home. It was unbelievable. I always meant, in their eyes, to be the best. I got fired by the business. My father, do they know what they're doing? Are they crazy? and you know how good you are. I mean, how good that makes you feel that your parents think the way.

41:12I tell parents all the time, find something beautiful to say to your kids. It means so much to them. I remember going with my buddy once to a Little League game here. His son was playing the Little League, a guy's name, Art. And I go with Art to the game, and his son did a nice job, and as we're walking off, I'm with my wife, and we're walking off, and there's this father. He's in his son's face. The kid is crying hysterically. You're an ambassador. You strike him three times. I come here to see you. I want to go over and say something. My wife is pulling me by the arm. I want to say, are you kidding me?

41:46The kid came here to play. So it would be a great experience, something positive. But my parents instilled in me one, my mother used to say all the time, when I was chasing the dream of wanting to be a college coach, I would write letters to all these schools. We had won back-to-back state championships, and I wanted like anybody else, like you want to climb the ladder. We all have dreams and goals. So I wanted to go from my high school coaching to coaching college. So I was realistic. I would write letters to some of the schools in the area. I wasn't writing to Kentucky and Carolina and Duke and UCLA.

42:25And I got more rejections. I used to always tell people, I got more rejections than the dean of Harvard gives out. And we had a stock when we moved to Florida. We had a stock of letters. and my wife and I laughed and we looked at them. All these rejections. But along that way, I came home one day and I will never forget there's certain things in your life you just don't forget. I remember coming in the house and only moms and dads, they have a way of knowing what's happening with their kids. And my mother says, Richie, who's never Dick, Richie. I don't see that fire in you. Like you always have that spirit.

43:01She'll call it spirit. Not a nuclear enthusiasm. Spirit. I said, Mom, my buddies are right, man. All my buddies were telling me, hey Rich, you're going to be here all your life, teaching in sixth grade, coaching in high school, you don't know anybody, you weren't a great player, face reality chasing these crazy dreams. And I finally was giving up. I said, they're right, they're right. I was getting my master's in administration because I was going to be a principal of the elementary school and coach along the way in high school. So anyway, my mother sat me down on the couch. I'll never forget this.

43:34I'll give you a hand. and said, Richie, listen to me. Don't listen to your friends. Don't ever, ever. It was the best advice. I shared it in my latest book. Don't ever, ever believe in the word can't. Don't allow can't to be part of your life, Richie. And I would hear maybe 15 times a day from my mom and dad, Richie, be good to people and people will be good to you. Well, I'm at 13 Hall of Fames. 13 Hall of Fames, including the Basketball Hall of Fame. Okay, right up there. I'm in there. I can't run. I tell people this. I speak. I mention this all the time. I can't run. I can't jump. I can't shoot.

44:17I got a body by Linguini. I'm in 13 Hall of Fames because all my life I've had passion and pride. I just called a bunch of kids just the other day. I said, you know, you find a lot about people. Not when they give you the gold trophy. Not when they tell you you're the best. You find out about people how they handle adversity. I was telling some kids who didn't feel they did well in their tournament in tennis. I said, you know what? The champ doesn't allow that to multiply to the next tournament. They learn from what they've done, and they move on. Derek Jeter, when he played, went 0 for 4, but he never allowed it to compound.

44:57The new day was a new day. There's too many athletes. They allow it to compound. Go from one to the next to the next and before long, they're in a big slump. And I think in life that is so true because life has bumps and bruises. I've had a lot of bumps. I've had a lot of bruises. I've taken some hits when I started out. He talks too much. He's loud. He violates all the rules. Oh, really? Some guys ought to try it, man, because I'll tell you one thing. I've talked from here. And when you talk from your heart and you talk from here, a lot of good things happen. Your dad worked in a factory pressing coats after his business failed, ended up going back to that job and then taking a second job working security in the evenings.

45:41What do you think that taught you about work ethic? Well, it taught me about discipline, taught me about work ethic, taught me about love. I watched my father come home on Fridays. He would take his money out of his pocket that he made, put it on the table, X number of dollars for food, X number of dollars for our food, X number of dollars for the insurance man. And then that one day, we would go to Barcelona's in Garfield. They're going to love what I'm saying this. I haven't met you. Barcelona's in Garfield, New Jersey, for pizza as a family. It was the greatest thing, man. Family go down and have some pizza on a Friday night.

46:14But they were proud. They were always about, Graham, about family. It was always about putting food on the table for your kids. I was one of the first in my family to go to college. My father begged me. He took me one year in the summer to the factory. And I go to the factory. It's a sweatshop. And everybody's in T-shirts and sweat coming out. And he pressed coats. They bring him coats. I run no coats over to him. And the more coats he pressed. And he was paid by the piece, right? By the piece work. He paid by every coat you press. She'd make a few dollars more. And he's banging those suckers out.

46:48We're getting a car on our way home. And I got more of an education. And he'd say to me, Richie, you don't want to do this, Richie. He'd come home, eat, would eat at the table, put a security guard uniform on, and go walk the mall 6 to 12. And that was his existence. And I really had a hysterical moment with my agent at IMG. I went to Final Four. And she says to me, I don't know if you noticed or not. I got to tell you this because your schedule here is out of whack. He said, but I'm going to tell you. I got speaking engagements for you for this company, for that company, lunch hour, breakfast, and then SportsCenter wants you 6-11, and you're doing the games on ESPN International, something new we do the last couple years.

47:34You're doing a semifinal and a final game. And I start laughing. She said, you're not going to get done from 7 to 12. She said, what are you laughing? I said, you can't be serious. I said, it's stealing money. My father worked. He did that every day for months and years. I'm going to do three days. I said, I'm getting paid a lot to speak, right? She said, yeah, you're getting paid a lot. I said, come on. I make more than one speech, and my father made his father the last three, four, five years. He worked 7 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., came home to dinner and change, and then 6 p.m. to midnight. You know, I was talking to your daughter, Terry, yesterday, and she told me, and I quote, on some level, my dad almost feels guilty for his success.

48:16What do you think of that? I don't know. I just feel I see people struggling, really, sometimes. People ask me, you know, we've been fortunate in my life. We just gave a big scholarship to Notre Dame to help kids. I want to do something positive. My life is winding down. I'm in the last chapter, man. I can't hide it. I can't hide the number. I can be enthusiastic. I can be energetic. I can have all this spirit, and I do. And I feel young until I look in the mirror that I realize how old I am. But I feel like a 12-year-old. But I want to be good to people because people have been so good to me.

48:54I can't believe, like I said, my mother and father would go nuts to be able to see the things that have happened for me. And it's all my upbringing. I tried to never, I told my daughters, you know, things have changed in my life materialistically. but if my character ever changes, I try to treat everybody. Just before you did this interview, man, I'm at a restaurant here and a woman came over with her daughter and said, I want to thank you so much. I said, thank me for what? I'm taking a picture and thank you. She said, all the money you're raising for pediatrics. She said, my daughter is a cancer.

49:31She's like 10 years old. She said she got cancer when she was five and it's now five years and we're celebrating because they say five years is the time frame that you can beat it. And she has, but I want to thank you. And I'm telling you, I had a mother, the name is Peters. Kyle Peters is the youngster. She brought me to tears. Brought me to tears at my gala. I mean, how powerful is this? She gives me a big hug, Mrs. Peters, Jen Peters her name is. And she says, you saved my son's life. I said, I saved your son's life. How did I ever do that? She said, the million dollars that you guys raised in the name of Peyton Wright for brain cancer, the doctors told us that when Kyle got brain cancer, that the research that was done through that million dollars that was given to them, they were able to make steps and move in a positive way, and it affected his life.

50:29And today he's cancer-free. And she gave me a big hug. I mean, I just shook. I shook. That's powerful stuff. And I just, I want to give back. And my daughters, I know what she means about guilty, and I always say to them, I want to do this more for this one. I want to do that more. I want to go out where people remember me as a guy with a lot of pride, a lot of passion, a guy that overcame some obstacles. I mean, I'm not the smoothest guy on TV. I don't have that articulate way like many guys have, in a polished way. But I noticed the one thing I'm noticing now, I said, a lot of guys, my thing wasn't shtick, man.

51:08My thing, John Madden, Chris Berman, that's who we are. That's who we are. Terry Bradshaw, that's who we are. We are that. We are not made in a journalism school. I wish I did have all these. I have such respect for all the guys I work with, whether it be Dan Schulman, Davey O 'Brien, Brad Nessler, Mike Tiricoz, whoever I've worked with over the years, Brent Musburger. Those guys are pros, pros. They have learned the art, how to get in and out. They handle all the traffic, all the commercials. We, as analysts, are basically jocks talking about our sport. And that I can do in my sleep. You mentioned wanting to do something positive in your life, which obviously you've done a ton already.

51:57I think raised$15-plus million for cancer since your gala started, Jim Valvano. You guys, I believe, really started becoming friends when you were working together at ESPN. Explain how you found out he had cancer. I got a call one day from the Washington Speakers Bureau, who I'm proud to say I've been with for over 20 years, and they booked me speaking engagements all over. And they called me up and they said, are you free this day, this day? And it was like soon. Usually they book you a couple months in advance. And I said, gee, where's one? He said, well, we got one of our people who can't make these engagements.

52:38And I said, well, who is it? Well, we'd rather not. I said, come on now. And he finally said to me, Jim Valvano. I said, Jim Valvano, why can't he make these engagements? They said, call Jimmy up. And I called him up. And he started crying on the phone. And we both started talking. And I was just, you know, certain people you feel like are invincible. I thought, Jimmy V, cancer, this loving, fun guy. I can't believe that. He said, I have cancer, Dick, and it's bad. And we talked. And there's something, I tried to find this about a month ago, and I can't. We moved from our house in Prostantia to here.

53:18But Jimmy, when he got his cancer back then, this is 1992, I believe, died in 93, he sent me a letter, handwritten. I will never forget it because it touched me so much. He wrote me a letter, and in the letter he basically said, Dick, love you, buddy. He said, slow down. Slow down. You're going five million different ways. Speaking, TV, here, commercials, whatever. Slow down. Write in books. He said, trust me, it'll get you. You can't live like that. Here he was battling cancer and he was worried about what I was doing. And we stayed in touch. A lot of people don't know this, but Jimmy and I probably talked almost regularly during that whole period.

54:06And then when he, I'll never forget the first ESPY show, went to the rehearsal. When it came from the rehearsal and came back to the hotel, I was blown away as to what they were going to do. I saw the video presentation about him and his career and how we're going to have the first, you know, Jimmy V. He's going to receive the Arthur Ashe Award. I was going to introduce him. Dustin Hoffman introduced me. And it was really going to be a special night. So I called him up. So I wanted to make sure he was all on board. And when I called him up, he said, barely, I could barely hear him talk. He's going, Dick, I don't care.

54:50I feel miserable now. I'm sick as a dog. I can't do this. I can't do that. I said, Jimmy, you've got to come to New York, man. You've got to come. This is special. Well, Mike Krzyzewski flew with him on a plane with his wife. Jimmy was so sick on that plane. If you would have seen him at the event and in a hotel before he got up to speak, you would have said, there is no way, no way, shape, or form that he'd be able to carry on and speak. But somehow, through the magic, he did. I remember telling one of the people that were there, I don't know if it was the production assistant or whatever, maybe we should bring a microphone right to his seat and don't let him get up.

55:31And when I introduce him, have him just say a few words, thank you there. Never in my wildest dreams that I ever thought he'd give the speech that he gave. I've got to go, and I've got one last thing. I've said it before and I'm going to say it again. cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever. I thank you, and God bless you all. I remember him when he saw me talking, he said, what are you doing? I said, I'm trying to make it easy for you. I mean, he was throwing up in a wheelchair.

56:08He was, I mean, it was unbelievable. Well, finally, he just said, get me up on the stage. and we got him up. Mike Krzyzewski, I think it was Joe Theismann, myself, we carried him up on the stage basically. He got up. I thought he was going to say thank you if you watch. I'm standing to his right for the whole speech because I thought he was going to take the award I give it all, say thank you and sit down. I'm standing in awe. It was the greatest speech. It has, you know, I feel this way, Graham. You know, we can talk about greatness all we want. To me, the definition of greatness in an individual is the impact they make on others lives for generation after generation.

56:52I don't know the exact number by the time you go in air, but I'll guarantee it's probably 150, 160 million that has been already raised in his name for research in all forms of cancer. Think about the lives that he's affected and the people that he's helped along that way. That is magical. To me, he's a legend beyond legends, an icon. The people from the V Foundation, from John Saunders to Mike Krzyzewski to Harry Rhodes and Washington Speakers Real, to his family, to his wife Pam, all those people, they work. His brothers, Nick and Bobby, those people work religiously trying to raise dollars to help others.

57:37because that was Jimmy's goal and his dream, to help others battle that unbelievable disease. I will never forget one time... I mean, I could go on and on about this, but I'm at ESPN. He calls me up to his room. We're going to go out of the air. He wanted to work right till the end. This is when he's sick. Very sick. He calls me up to his room. It was a Sunday night. Some kind of Sinatra show was on. He's got shorts on. He's laying in bed. and he was eating in a cafeteria at the hotel across from ESPN. And he says, come up the room. And I went up there. And he just starts like unbelievably crying and he's just punching the wall.

58:20Starts punching the wall. I said, Jimmy, take your worst toothache and run it through your whole body. That's what I feel. See, a lot of people don't know this. Jimmy did not want to take the morphine to help the pain because he felt that that was admitting that he couldn't beat it. And he told me at the time when they told me there was a very marginal percentage, small percentage, could beat what he had. And he said, I'm going to be one of those guys to beat that. I'm going to beat it. And he did everything. His daughters, taking him to church regularly, going for walks, for exercise, doing everything he thought that could help.

58:56And the pain was so severe, He finally gave in and utilized the morphine at the end to try and eliminate that pain. When I saw that, I remember calling my wife. I said, no guy should live like that. No human being. And that's what a lot of these people, I'll tell you, one of the most heartwarming things that ever happened to me, they had Dickie V Day at an All Children's Hospital up in St. Petersburg. My wife and I go there, and I have a children's book. And the children's book was kids from 2 to 6. And a buddy of mine, Mike Valdez, he went out and brought about 400 of them. For everybody in the hospital, everybody.

59:35Nurses, patients, whoever wanted what we gave them. So one of the people in charge asked me if I would read to all the kids if they got them out of their rooms. I said, of course. So they brought all these kids. And I was going that day, I believe, to see a baseball game, the race. It's a few years back. This happened maybe, I don't know, five, six years ago. But anyway, they brought these kids out. And the book's simple. B for ball, A for awesome, J for jump. It's all for little kids. Caricatures, it's funny as heck. And I'm reading the book and these kids are laughing and they're jumping and they're running.

1:00:12And I get done, I sit with one of the nurses or the pediatricians there was standing there. I assume he's a pediatrician. I said, I don't get it. I don't get it. These kids look healthier than my grandkids. he said everybody who read to leukemia, neuroblastoma brain cancer I said you're kidding me and they said you know Dick I remember one guy saying this to me Dick you go in a baseball game know what their parents do they sit from 7 in the morning to 11 o 'clock at night at their bedsides dreaming hoping and praying for a miracle and I share that in my speeches because we sometimes don't realize how lucky.

1:00:55I tell people all the time, and I firmly believe this, if you have your health and you're able every day to live a healthy life, you're a zillionaire. You're a billionaire, a zillionaire, whatever you want to be. Go to hospitals and see these kids. They had me this year's Final Four. They took me to Riley Children's Hospital. I walked in there. I could not believe some of the things I've witnessed. and if you're a human being and you've got healthy kids, my grandkids are playing baseball, tennis. I mean, knock wood, we're lucky. It could change in one moment. That is why people say, why are you so obsessed, it seems, raising money for kids, for pediatrics?

1:01:35Why? Because God forbid something happened to my grandkids, I want to make sure they're research knowledge because I'm going to tell you something that bothers me and it really bothers me and it should bother all the experts out there as well. What if I told you that only 4%, 4 % of every dollar raised for cancer research goes to pediatrics. 4%. That's a crime. Kids, beautiful kids, our future, not enough being researched, done to help them live. I don't think a lot of people are aware of that. I really don't, Graham. I don't think people are aware of that number. But 4 % for kids, that, my friend, is a crime.

1:02:17You said the hardest speech you ever gave was speaking at the funeral of a one-year-old. Adrian Littlejohn. Adrian's dad coaches in town here. And we got to know each other a little through Patrick Wright, who is a great inspiration to me. Patrick and his wife, Holly, I think she summed it the best. I can paraphrase. She gave a speech at one of our galas. Just for a couple of minutes, she went. It was so powerful, though. And I'm watching at our gala. We have superstars beyond. We've had, I mean, you name them, Kenny Chesney, Pat Riley, Magic Johnson, all the coaches, Tom Izzo, Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Billy Donovan, Bill Self.

1:03:01I mean, they've all been with us. They've all been with us. Some come every year. But she got up and told the crowd. It was a year, I believe, that Calipari had just lost the national championship in that unbelievable game with Kansas when he was at Memphis. He hit a three to send them to overtime, and they lost in the overtime. And she said to the crowd, she said, I know you coaches feel a lot of, I'm paraphrasing her, but I know you coaches feel a lot of pain and hurt when you basically lose a game. It's like the end of the world. And it should be. It's your living. That's what you do for a living.

1:03:39But you know what, coaches? You're going to get another game of coach. I am never ever going to get a chance to coach my little girl, Peyton. I watched little Peyton, and I think that's really what got me so fired up over kids. Peyton was a neighbor of ours. I went to her funeral. I watched a beautiful mom and dad who were living an American dream, late 30s, three beautiful kids, and all of a sudden, Patrick tells me the story how his life changed when they never in their wildest dreams thought about the word cancer because she was screaming about pain in her knee. And they did research. First I went there, doctor said, growing pains, nothing wrong with her knee.

1:04:22She would not stop screaming. She's screaming every night about this pain she has. I was thinking of Jimmy V and the pain that he had. And that's probably what she had. And they went back. And he got somebody to do an MRI, another doctor of her whole body. Patrick tells the story how he's sitting there and a radiologist walks in with the x-ray I guess the MRA report and he's talking to the doctor and the doctor says I'm stunned I have to talk to both you please sit down he says Patrick and Holly I got the worst news in the world your little girl screaming because she has a tumor the size of a grapefruit on her spine and the worst news is it's going to metastasize and spread.

1:05:08My wife and I watched that little girl from a beautiful little kid running around, having fun like any normal kid. We watched her sit in a wheelchair. She'd come to the broken egg in a wheelchair and be paralyzed. We then watched her go blind. She lost her vision. And then we watched her lose her life. And I went to that funeral that day, and I'm telling you, it ripped my insides. Ripped my insides. And when the funeral ended, I'm an emotional guy, as you all can tell. I went over to the mom and dad. I said, we can't save your child, but I guarantee you, my buddies and I are going to raise$1 million in less than a year in our name and help other kids.

1:05:52And we hugged and we did it. And I've watched Patrick and his wife, they go out and help others through their foundation. and the one thing that's amazed me through my 11 years and every dollar I raise and I beg people if you can help us you may be helping your child just go to DickVitaoOnline.com and you'll see me there with a beautiful little girl Lacey Holesworth click on there and you can make a donation and it goes through the V Foundation and those dollars every dollar it's not percentage we have a grant and off that endowment and that grant,$17 million, all the expenses are paid and running the foundation.

1:06:35So every dollar you donate goes to research, and it will go for pediatrics. But I watched how courageous those people are. But you're talking about I spoke at Adrian's funeral. It was brutal, man, watching a mom and dad put their child. I told you earlier I was talking about black tie affairs, corporate events, Hall of Fame events, standing there watching a mother and father put their child to rest? How do you get worse? I mean, it was as tough as can be. And I got to know those kids. Those kids are beautiful. I think I sent you a flyer. There's 12 of them that have been with us at my gala who no longer are here, who lost their lives.

1:07:13They lost the battle. But there are a lot of other kids we can share who have made it. The Jake Tarascas, the Kyle Peters, I could go on and on, Cole Eicher, so many beautiful kids out there. Tatum Parker is as good as it gets. She can't do enough to help other kids. These are kids who are cancer survivors, and we bring them to our event, showing that dollars do work. But I'm obsessed with it. That's my biggest thing now in my life. As I go forward in my life, on how many days I have, to my last breath, I'm going to beg, I'm going to plead with corporate giants, with people in the world of athletics, we need money for kids.

1:07:55And they have to understand And they might be helping someone they love. Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College Deal. Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms slash college pc. And we're live from the living room as Doug eyes up the match day spread.

1:08:34He's reaching for the Buffalo Wing. Perfect. Hang on, what's this? Oh, he's going for a can of Pepsi too. Incredible. What a finish. Sensational combination. Look at the delight on his face. There's no doubt about it. It just tastes better. Match days deserve Pepsi. Food deserves Pepsi. Grab a pack of Pepsi Zero Sugar for today's match. It's poetry in motion. I want to completely change gears here and talk about your other passion. You'll get back to talking about your other passion, basketball, and some notable moments from your broadcasting career. Michael Jordan, I believe, played in one of the greatest games you ever broadcast.

1:09:21What do you recall from it? Oh, that was the Virginia game. Ralph Sampson. Well, it's great. You know, Michael Jordan, Ralph Sampson. Doesn't get better than that. I mean, we're talking about two of the greatest of all time. At the time, Ralph was the talk of the nation. I mean, Ralph Sampson, my memory tells me, he's one of only two players. I think Bill Walton did it as well. Became player of the year three consecutive years. And it was a great game. I don't know, number one, number three. I think Virginia was number one. Carolina might have been number three. and was played down at Chapel Hill in their older building before the D-Nome.

1:09:55And it was unreal. At the end of the game, Michael was so sensational. He leads them in a big comeback with a win. And I remember going on the air saying, forget about Ralph Sampson, basically the best player in the nation. Pound for pound, inch ridges, super south, Michael Jordan. And I had to go to Virginia. I didn't realize I had a game coming up in Virginia. I go down there, man. They couldn't wait. I'm in the front page, papers, my title says Jordan's. I see Ralph Sampson, and he comes walking toward me, and he goes, there's Michael Jordan's PR agent, man. I said, come on, Ralph, you know, I think you're great, but he's something else.

1:10:34And the funny part about it, I spoke at a big event honoring all the greatest players in the ACC. I mean, Ralph Sampson, all of them. And Ralph comes up to me, and he whispers to me, and he says, you were right about Michael. But it was a great game. Ralph certainly was a terrific college player and a Hall of Famer. You broadcast LeBron's first ever televised game. What do you remember from that one? You know what I remember about that? I didn't want to do it. That's the first game in my 30, well, I don't know how many years it was then at the time when he played. But I'm here at 37 now, so you do the math, subtract, whatever it is, let's say 25 years or so.

1:11:17I didn't want to do the game. when they called me up. I said, come on, now we're making this high school kid into like, he's a god, so young. Give me a break. No, Dick, we want you to do the game. Then they'd hit me up. So you're going to do it with Dan Schumann, but you're also going to do it with Bill Walton. I said, Walton and I are going to walk in that arena at a high school game and make this kid like this his head. I said, he can't be half as good as what they're saying. Well, we go down there, and I cannot believe it. He literally took his team against a team that had like four or five Division I big-time players and made them look like they were junior varsity players.

1:11:55That's how good he was. I remember talking to him after, and I said, LeBron, you are so much better than what I ever dreamt you to be. I said, so much better. I said, you're going to be besieged by all kinds of people who all want a piece of you, make good decisions. And the one thing that I'm very proud of when you follow his career, he's been a tremendous role model. I know people get on him about the decision he made. It was the way it was done. But really, you study what he has done for people, what he's doing now, giving money, scholarship money to kids in Akron. He never forgot where he came from.

1:12:34And we need more people like him. LeBron, I was teasing the head of NBA. He's a guy named Tim. Maybe you know Tim Corrigan. Tim's a great guy. He runs the NBA production at ESPN. I said, Tim, my one thing in life, bucket list. I want to do a LeBron game. I did his first game ever on TV. I wanted my career. He said, you're on. You really want to do it? We're going to get that done. So I'm hoping that's my bucket list, that I can do a LeBron game in the NBA. You got a first year now, see that? Exclusive. LeBron, much like Michael Jordan, already has been, will be in the Hall of Fame one day. You are as well.

1:13:17How tough was it though on you the first few times you were nominated not getting in? Really, not as tough because I never felt in my heart that I was ever going to get in a Hall of Fame. You really didn't? No, you know, you hear people say, well, you contribute to the game, you belong in. I don't think a lot of people are aware of this. Bobby Knight. Are you aware of Bobby Knight's situation with the Hall of Fame? I bet he helped you out a lot. What's even more impressive than that, when you were broadcasting when he was a coach, you guys weren't all that close. He was pretty hard on you. Well, I was talking about him.

1:13:49Bobby's a guy. If he likes you, he's going to go to bat for you. Well, one day, Bob called me up, and he said to me, I don't know if you're going to get in the Hall of Fame. It was the third time I was nominated. He said, well, I'm going to tell you what. You're going to feel like a Hall of Famer. So I have letters from every living Hall of Famer, from John Wooden, Krzyzewski, right down the line. He said, I have letters that they've written to the Hall of Fame on how there should be no category called contributions to the game if Dick E.V. is not in. And I start laughing. Really? He said, yeah.

1:14:25He said, I started this because I firmly believe it. I said, you don't have to do that. Don't, you know, Bob, you don't tell me what to do. Dick, don't tell me what to do. I did it because it's the right thing to do. And he said, here's what I'm going to do. He said, whether you get it or not, I've sent these all to the Hall of Fame, but I'm going to send you copies. I'm going to send you a copy, Coach Wooden's letter. It just brought me a handwritten letter, John Wooden. There shouldn't be Dick Vitale's passion for the game, so been vital to the game of college. It was really beautiful to see.

1:14:56And Bob did it, and that year I got in. I got in. What was it like reading those letters? Oh, it's just, you know, these are guys I respect for. You know, I get criticized sometimes. You know, I guess rightfully so, but I get criticized sometimes about singing the praises of coaches. Well, they don't understand. The games I've done over the years are the best of the best. What games am I doing? I'm doing games featuring the premier superstars, Hall of Famers. So what am I going to do? Sit there. See, we live in a day and age. It's so easy today with all the social media, radio talk shows, bury people, rip people, when you have to face them.

1:15:36When you have to walk in the locker room. Don't even know who the heck is ripping them. Some guy on some little small radio show burying guys. That's easy to do. That's easy to do. I always try to look, you know, in my life, I try to look at the glass half filled rather than half empty. I try to look for that which is positive. But along the way, I like to think I have been analytical and I have been critical when somebody deserves some criticism. I know I've done that. I don't care what anyone says. Just go to the tapes and look at them and research them. But again, none of us are going to be perfect.

1:16:10We can't be perfect. I respect the media. I love the media. I love going in the media room, talking with all the guys, sharing moments with them, even those that have ripped me. And I've had guys, my wife would say, how can you talk to him? He ripped you, man. What am I going to do, get mad at him? What am I going to gain by that? But I am sensitive. People say, oh, I hear guys in sports, I don't read what they say. I don't care what they say. Well, then you have no pride. I care. I do give a damn what they say. With regards to the Hall of Fame, and I know they wanted you to give like a five-minute speech.

1:16:43It ends up lasting 25 or 30 minutes. I hadn't watched it until the other day. From minute one to minute 25 or 30 was moved to it. I was short actually compared to some guys. Right. Really. There's no way in the world that you could get up and think about all the people, Graham, that have been good to you and do it in five minutes. You just can't do it. Well, regardless, it was an amazing speech. Well, thank you. I was glued to the screen. I was watching it on YouTube the other day. You've obviously mentioned you're an emotional guy. You didn't get emotional there, but you did really get emotional at the college court dedication ceremony.

1:17:20What about that got to you? You know, it's really amazing. I'm glad you brought that up in a way. They were taking bets, all the ESPN guys, how long before I broke down and cried at the Hall of Fame. And for some reason, I don't know what got me that I didn't. I just, I was in my glory, I guess, too. I'm looking. I mean, I'm a boy of bullet dreams, as I told you early in our discussion. And here I am looking in front of me, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Pat Riley, Bob Cousy, John Thompson, Bob Knight. I'm looking at all these people, the fabric, John Havlicek, the fabric of basketball, sitting in that room and I'm standing here getting inducted with guys I thought the world of Ewing, Olajuwon, I mean, Dantley, Pat Riley.

1:18:12I mean, it was unbelievable. Kathy Rush. It was just an incredible moment and an incredible high. But I just, I let it go from my heart. I must have rehearsed. My wife got a kick out of when I gave my speech. She must have heard my speech 5 ,000 times in a bathroom, in bed at night, going over and over. That's interesting because that was my question when I was watching it. If you rehearsed or you just. Let me tell So when the speech ended, she said to me, that was nothing what I heard. I said, I don't know what happened, Lord. Everything I memorized, all that stuff, went out. I said, you know what?

1:18:49I'm going to talk right from here. Talking about parents, talking about ESPN. Probably the greatest compliment, and he doesn't even know this, I've ever received, as far as I'm concerned, I was inducted a little while back into the Hall of Fame of Broadcasters. and introducing me was George Bodenheimer, our president at the time, ESPN, CEO, president. And George got up and told the crowd, he said, a lot of you don't know this. He said, and the crowd was filled with all the giants in broadcasting. We had a man, Costas and Patrick, and they were there for many reasons, for honors they were getting as well.

1:19:28But he got up and told the crowd. he said 1981 when I was hired by ESPN meeting him he said my first job was to drive Dickie V whenever he came to Bristol work in a mailroom and Dickie V basically would give me all this advice I was basically in his eyes Dr. Dick before it was a Dr. Phil because I would tell him he would say my girlfriend's getting upset with me man here I am working in a mailroom I want to be a marketing I want to get ahead more and he went to a great college Denison and And I would say to him, George, there's something about you. You're going to make it big. I know you are. And one day, I'm sitting in Atlanta airport, mid-90s, and plane delayed.

1:20:13Grab the paper, USA Today. Named the president of ESPN, George Bonham. I said, holy, that's my former driver. True story. I called up his office. I told his secretary I didn't want to talk to him, a voice message. I'm going nowhere with my life. What am I doing? I'm driving you around. All I do is that. I'm working in a mail room. I'd say, George, you're the president, man. Don't forget me. I want a new contract. I got my five-year contract, baby, instead of a wristwatch. But George told the crowd that night the greatest compliment I got. He said to the crowd, Dick Vitale treated me like royalty when I was his driver, and he's treated me the same way now.

1:21:01And the reason that was the greatest compliment, it hit my head immediately. My mom would be so proud, and my dad, because they always said to me, Richie, be good to people, and people will be good to you, no matter what they do in life. I would have matched my mom and dad with any Harvard graduate, with any Princeton graduate, as people, as people who cared, as people who had a harder goal, as people who gave a damn about their family. It wasn't just book knowledge. A lot of people got book knowledge, but they don't have ability to communicate. You know, I'm not saying that I don't want you to have book knowledge.

1:21:42I mean, my daughters went to Notre Dame. They got their masters at Notre Dame. I think it's fantastic. But it's part of life. It's communicating with people, getting along with people, all people. I remember when I was moving to Florida, I said, oh, my God, you don't know anybody down south. Give me a break. I don't care where you live. Whether it's the Midwest, East, West, the South. People are people, man. And if you're good to people, people will be good to you. What would you say is the most satisfying moment from your career to date? My most satisfying moment was watching the joy and jubilation of my family at the Hall of Fame ceremony, the Naisman Hall of Fame.

1:22:24It doesn't get bigger than that. I remember one phone message I got. I got so many, but one that stood out. The one that stood out to me when I coached the Pistons, I had a great center. Unfortunately, I had some knee surgery when I was there and wasn't able to play a full game like I would like. But Bob Lanier, Bob Lanier leaves me a message. He goes, my man Dick, I'll never forget this man, my man Dick, we weren't too long together with the Pistons. But we'll be together for life now, my brother. Together for life. In the greatest club you could be on. And it's a very exclusive club. And you are now one of us.

1:23:05Congrats, brother. Hall of Famer. I will never forget that. And that's how I feel. When you go to the Hall of Fame, now my picture's right up to you. My grandkids, you see Jordan, you see all those people. Wow. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. And to see the joy. my sister, my brother, I said it in my speech. They're Hall of Famers. You're a Hall of Famer, the kind of life you live. There are a lot of Hall of Famers. I always try to tell guys, no one gets in the Hall of Fame, whether it be baseball, basketball, football, whatever, by themselves. You get in there because people have opened doors.

1:23:40What bothers me and troubles me, a lot of the great athletes, unfortunately, forget where they come from. And they forget about those that have opened doors for them. Nobody gets in there by themselves. Somebody took you at age five or six. I gave a speech to a bunch of kids recently and told them, say, I love you, man. I love you to your mom and dad, or guardian, or grandparent. Somebody made it happen for you to go to a camp. Somebody made it happen for you to be at this camp. You just didn't get here by yourself, and eventually some of those kids are going to make it. Because of your success, you've earned the ability to have the convenience of being able to fly private to games that you do now.

1:24:22No, no. Financially, I do that. Right. I want to make clear ESPN does not pay for that. They reimburse you for first class. First class, yep, yep. How has that changed your life? Changed my life. Without the private plane, I wouldn't be working. I wouldn't be working. I give you a simple time frame. I did a little charting of it all. Last year, my season basically runs from, let's say, November to the beginning of April. So you look at maybe 125, 130 days. What if I told you because of a private plane versus going commercial, I was home like over 70 some of those days? It's unbelievable. You can't put a price on that.

1:25:05And at my age now, it's vital that I spend some time with my family as well because every day is one day closer. to the ultimate end. And I just think it's been phenomenal, but I do that on my own. I've been very blessed financially to be able to earn dollars away from broadcasting that I set up into what I call a planica. It's very expensive. I would have never done this when I was 50 or 45 or 55 because at that time you're saving for your future. But right now, my future is taking care of my grandkids, taking care of my daughters and sons-in-laws, and making sure that they have something later in life and helping others.

1:25:47If you're doing a 7 o 'clock game for Duke in North Carolina, take me through what the schedule is from when you're able to leave here to when you get back. Well, you know, we don't have to report the announcers until 5 o 'clock, two hours prior to game time. Prior to that, though, the day before, you're on a phone with coaches, producers, directors, getting all your information and all. But as far as the actual itinerary, as long as you're there by 5, but I make sure I'm there like, let's say a 7 o 'clock game, I'd leave here maybe 11 in the morning. I'd get there 1, 1.30, hang around, talk to some of the coaches or local people, and then go out and they have a room for me at ESPN, maybe do a sports center hit, and then do the game and get in a plane and come right back home.

1:26:31Now, if I went commercial, you go the night before, you can't get out after the game, so you've got to go home 12 noon. So it takes three days, three days of your life. Well, three days of my life is precious. So it's really added to my career. It's added. It's money. People say to me, man, you're wasting all that money. I don't call it a waste of money. First of all, it's money I never had. It's from outside. When I first approached my wife about it, you know, I said, it's going to cost a lot of money. But I promise you one thing. It'll never come from my checks from ESPN. And I'm fortunate, knock wood, I have not touched an ESPN check for plane use ever.

1:27:12So that's all from extra income. How would you describe what life's like today? My life's been a fantasy, a dream. If it ended today, I could not describe it any better than the fact that I've been a boy, a ball of dream. I've lived a life blessed with a great wife, 45 years, Hall of Famer, great kids, beautiful grandchildren, have a beautiful home, make a decent living, work with beautiful people. I may not always agree about all the decisions that are made, but I work with some beautiful people, and I've just been so touched magically by the man upstairs. I have really been a blessed guy. And I hope it doesn't end.

1:27:59I want to go on and on. And I want to be that guy that walks in to do a game at 100 years of age. Right now I got 24 more years to go. And I'm going to make it happen. And you will be sitting in that chair, and you'll be interviewing me. You'll be 53 at the time. You'll be sitting there and say, Dick, I interviewed you when I was 29. What does it feel now at 100? Oh, wow. You can dream, can't you? The dream, man. That's what the country's about. Dreaming. The greatest country of all. No doubt about it. I'm going to be like Muhammad Ali now. And the greatest country of all. America. Love it, baby.

1:28:40Love it. Thank you very much. Thanks for listening to my chat with Dick Vitale. For the entire Dickie Vee playlist, including a clip of him driving me around town, head to youtube.com slash Graham Bensinger. Also, don't forget to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, at Graham Bensinger. Thanks again for listening.

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