Clemson honors broadcaster Dick Vitale with classy pregame gesture

Chapel Fowler, The State on Feb 8, 2025

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CLEMSON, S.C. — Dick Vitale made his return to broadcasting Saturday.

And Clemson made sure he felt welcome.

About 30 minutes before the Tigers men’s basketball team tipped off against No. 2 Duke, Vitale emerged from a tunnel at Littlejohn Coliseum to head toward his courtside seat, where he’d be calling the game for ESPN.

He was met with a standing ovation from the student section and a message on the in-arena video board: “He’s back, baby!”

Vitale got a second standing ovation minutes before tipoff.

Vitale, 85, has not called a men’s basketball game in two years as he’s battled four different types of cancer over the past four years, including vocal cord cancer that came with eight months of “voice rest.”

Vitale, one of college basketball’s most iconic voices, couldn’t say a word.

But Vitale was declared cancer free last month, and ESPN announced earlier this week he’d make his broadcasting return to call Saturday’s Clemson-Duke game with play-by-play announcer Dave O’Brien and analyst Corey Alexander.

The game is a sellout and features the ACC’s top two teams in terms of conference winning percentage. No. 2 Duke also enters on a 16-game winning streak.

Vitale was initially set to return to ESPN for a Jan. 25 Duke-Wake Forest game in Winston-Salem, NC. But he fell at his home in Florida, which delayed his return another two weeks.

Vitale has not called a game since ESPN’s international broadcast of the 2023 national championship game between UConn and San Diego State and was emotional previewing the moment with reporters Friday.

“I need it because it’s the greatest medicine in the world,” Vitale said. “I can’t tell you the high and excitement to sit down and meet the fans again.”

He added of Saturday’s game: ““Really, tomorrow, even if I’m horrible or whatever, it’s my championship, man, to be out there is my championship.”