Not even cancer and vocal cord surgery could keep Dick Vitale away from college basketball for too long.
The legendary ESPN broadcaster was sidelined for most of the 2021–’22 season. He began the year attempting to work despite a lymphoma diagnosis in October. After calling a few games for the network early on, he was told to rest his voice by his doctors. It was discovered that he had ulcerated lesions on his vocal cords for the second time in 15 years, which required surgery and rest for the remainder of the season.
Vitale did not call this weekend’s SEC tournament in Tampa, but he made an appearance ahead of Saturday afternoon’s games, getting the standing ovation that he certainly deserves.