ESPN Announces Dick Vitale Will Call First College Basketball Game in Nearly Two Years

The legendary announcer was cleared to return to ESPN last month after becoming cancer free.
Dick Vitale calls a Kentucky-Michigan State game in 2022.
Dick Vitale calls a Kentucky-Michigan State game in 2022. / Andy Lyons/Getty Images

After nearly two years of not calling any college basketball games, Dick Vitale is set to return to the microphone this Saturday, Feb. 8 to call the Duke vs. Clemson game. ESPN announced the news on Monday.

Vitale will travel to Clemson to work alongside Dave O’Brien and Cory Alexander.

Vitale was cleared to return to announcing last month after he received the good news that his vocal cords are officially cancer free. The legendary analyst has battled multiple types of cancer in the last few years including melanoma, lymphoma, and most recently, laryngeal cancer. He's been sidelined while in recovery. But, he always expressed his desire to return to the court and call games again.

Vitale was originally set to make his return to announcing on Jan. 25 for the Duke vs. Wake Forest game, but he postponed this after he had an at-home accident that caused some health concerns for him.

It's unclear how much more Vitale plans to work the rest of the 2024-25 college basketball season, but Saturday will give him an idea of how much he can handle.

It'll be exciting to hear Vitale's electric announcing back in action this weekend.


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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.