Dick Vitale touched by KU tribute, which included standing ovation from fans
An emotional Dick Vitale wiped tears from his eyes moments after standing and waving to the fans at Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse — ones who gave him a long, loud standing ovation during a timeout with 11:51 left in the first half of Saturday’s 84-62 victory over Indiana.
The fans cheered wildly after a video, produced and directed by KU’s athletic department, honored Vitale for not only his work as an in-game analyst with ESPN for over 40 years, but also raising funds to combat cancer and winning his own battle versus cancer.
The 83-year-old Vitale is in remission after a long fight against the dreaded disease.
“Beautiful fans all over. It’s incredible. I didn’t expect this,” Vitale said on the ESPN2 broadcast of the KU-IU game.
“I’ve got to get myself regrouped. I was so into the game. Now it’s so emotional. It’s great being here, so much better than where I was a year ago (receiving cancer treatments),” Vitale added.
Vitale posted on Twitter after the game: “I want to send a big THANK YOU for the surprising intro at the game today by the KANSAS fans,” Vitale wrote.
ESPN had a Twitter post with video of Vitale standing and waving to the cheering fans.
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The video put together by KU’s Mike Lickert and Douglas Sheppard included a cameo appearance from former KU forward Nick Collison. He thanked Vitale for standing and giving Collison a standing ovation after Collison scored 24 points and grabbed 23 rebounds in a 90-87 victory over Texas during a game at Allen in the 2002-03 season.
“Nick Collison was unbelievable the day they talked about me giving (him) a standing ovation,” Vitale said on Saturday’s broadcast. “ I did two (standing ovations) in 44 years — David Robinson was the other one, Navy against Kentucky.”
KU coach Bill Self said he was able to speak with Vitale before the game.
“I talked to Dick. I talk to him periodically, all the time,” Self said. “He was looking forward to coming out here. Lickert and his team, Shep, thought it’d be a good idea to do that for Dick. Nick (Collison) did something with the television crew.
“Dick has done an unbelievable job promoting our sport, 40 plus years (in broadcasting college games). It was nice. I didn’t get to see it because it was a timeout (and Self was coaching). I think our fans did a nice job paying tribute to a job well done.”
