Dick Vitale is facing yet another health challenge.
The legendary college basketball broadcaster Vitale announced the difficult news on Monday that he has been diagnosed with melanoma in his lung and his liver cavity. Vitale added that he plans to begin immunotherapy treatment shortly in order to beat the disease.
“Today, my oncologist, Dr. Brown, informed me that my biopsy results have confirmed a diagnosis of melanoma in my lung and liver cavity,” Vitale’s statement read. “I will be starting immunotherapy shortly and I plan on winning this battle.
“I’ve beaten melanoma,” added Vitale. “I’ve beaten lymphoma. I’ve beaten vocal cord cancer. I’ve beaten lymph node cancer. I’m four-for-four and I’m fully confident I’m going to make it five-for-five.”
You can read Vitale’s full statement here.
Sharing a health update on behalf of @DickieV
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 13, 2026
Your ESPN family is with you every step of the way, Dick pic.twitter.com/Uvoiv6dedN
As Vitale hinted at, he has already had numerous battles with cancer over the last half-decade. He was diagnosed with melanoma in 2021 and then with lymphoma later in that same year as well. After being declared cancer-free in 2022, Vitale was diagnosed with vocal cord cancer in 2023. He once again announced that he was cancer-free later on in 2023 but then had a bout with lymph node cancer in 2024 (which Vitale successfully beat later in 2024 too).
Set to turn 87 in June, Vitale, a former basketball head coach, has been calling games for ESPN ever since 1979. He was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and remains under contract with ESPN through the 2027-28 college basketball season. Vitale was in the news again earlier this week after getting duped by a fake social media post but is now receiving countless prayers and well wishes in the wake of his latest health challenge.
