<table> </table> Dick Vitale rose from his seat and stepped to the microphone. He wasn&#8217;t necessarily prepared for this.</p><p>A couple of hours before his induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday at the Sprint Center, Vitale and the other inductees took part in a short news conference. He originally thought they would just answer a few questions and leave, but each was asked to say a few words.</p><p>Luckily for Vitale, the ESPN college basketball color man whose unique catchphrases and unbridled passion for the game has made him an icon, talking has never been a problem. Off the top of his head, he said a few kind words about the other inductees.</p><p>Then he brought up his parents, who armed him with the tools he needed to be successful.</p><p>&#8220;My mother told me to never, ever, ever, believe in can&#8217;t,&#8221; Vitale said with emphasis. &#8220;I chased my dreams.&#8221;</p><p>Vitale&#8217;s parents didn&#8217;t have a formal education, but they made up for it with hard work. Vitale remembers going to the factory where his father pressed coats for a living. He also remembers his mother walking to church every day, then working, even after she suffered a stroke.</p><p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t run, can&#8217;t jump, can&#8217;t shoot,&#8221; said Vitale, who graduated from Seton Hall and says he was the first in his family to go to college. &#8220;But I&#8217;m in nine halls of fame because of enthusiasm, spirit and energy. That&#8217;s a trademark I learned at my home.&#8221;</p><p>Sunday&#8217;s induction capped an incredible year for Vitale, who was also inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September.</p><p>However, it&#8217;s been just one of many for Vitale, 69, since he found his niche as a broadcaster.</p><p>Vitale joined ESPN in 1979 after spending several years coaching in college and the pros.</p><p>&#8220;I thought it was just a timeout until I got back into coaching,&#8221; said Vitale, who was fired as coach of the NBA&#8217;s Detroit Pistons in 1979 after going 34-60 during his brief stint.</p><p>&#8220;But I fell in love with it.&#8221;</p><p>And along the way, Vitale has become so popular you&#8217;d have a hard time finding a college basketball fan who doesn&#8217;t have a Vitale impersonation. And that&#8217;s why, when the news conference ended, people surrounded him, asked him questions and shook his hand.</p><p>That didn&#8217;t surprise Dave Miller, who was watching nearby. Miller, a senior coordinating producer at ESPN, is one of a handful of coworkers who showed up for Sunday&#8217;s ceremony.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s like the pied piper,&#8221; said Miller, who has worked with Vitale for more than 25 years. &#8220;People seem to gravitate to him.&#8221;</p><p>But for all his fame, Vitale admits he still can&#8217;t quite wrap his mind around how well his life has turned out. He&#8217;s just thankful his parents laid the groundwork for his success.</p><p>&#8220;It blows me away,&#8221; Vitale said. &#8220;It shows me that if it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody.&#8221;</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">He said it </span></strong><br /> &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t a big name, I wasn&#8217;t a major (name) in the coaching profession. But I just worked and worked, and a lot of beautiful things happened.&#8221;</p><p><strong>| Dick Vitale</strong></p><p>&#8220;You know what? I&#8217;ve got the greatest job in the world, baby!&#8221;</p><p><strong>| Vitale</strong></p><p><strong><span class="infobox-head">They said it </span></strong><br /> &#8220;Dick Vitale? What can we say &#8230; I call him motormouth, he never stops, baby.&#8221;</p><p><strong>| Former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson</strong></p><p></div>