Dana O'Neil: He’s awesome, baby! The Dick Vitale you don’t see on TV

[BleedGopher]

A fantastic profile, per Dana:

We’ve all seen and heard his antics — the made-up vocabulary that is now part of the college basketball lexicon, the crowd-surfing and picture-posing. But Dickie V is not some alter ego of Dick Vitale. It’s who the ESPN analyst is: a good-hearted, boisterous and oversized personality who gives as much joy as he gets.

With his soundtrack to men’s college basketball sidelined this year by the combination of cancer treatment and vocal cord surgery, we decided to crowdsource for some of the best Vitale stories from the famous folks who know him well and the not-so-famous who experienced a chance encounter.

We like to consider it our virtual get well soon — and thank you — card to the irrepressible and irreplaceable Vitale.

His newly minted Notre Dame diploma in hand, Ryan O’Leary began to feel the pressure of putting that degree to work. It was mid-summer 1996, and O’Leary wanted to get into sports journalism, a difficult field to crack.

This was back when colleges printed student directories, complete with every co-ed’s hometown mailing address and phone number. It was also when people still had landlines. O’Leary worked part-time in the sports information department as an undergrad and knew that Vitale’s daughter, Sherri, played on the tennis team, so on a whim, he paged through the V section of the directory. “There was his home number,’’ O’Leary says. “Why not?” He took a deep breath and dialed the digits, and the “hello” on the other end came from the unmistakable voice of Vitale.

Swallowing his surprise, O’Leary explained his plight. Did Vitale have any suggestions? “I thought he’d just wish me luck or whatever,’’ O’Leary says. Instead, Vitale told him he knew a guy at College Sports Magazine and that he’d reach out to him on O’Leary’s behalf. Again, O’Leary wasn’t expecting much. “A week later, I’m driving down from Massachusetts to New Jersey to interview with this guy,’’ he says. “He had set the whole thing up.’’ He didn’t get the job — “I was woefully unqualified,’’ he says with a laugh. “But the fact that he even did all of that? To use his clout for some stranger, I couldn’t believe it. It always stuck with me.’’

O’Leary eventually got into the business. He’s now sports editor at the Daily Journal in Franklin, Ind. Recently, a high school student reached out to him, seeking advice. “I’ve taken him under my wing a bit, and try to help out any way I can,’’ O’Leary says. “Pay it forward, you know?”

He’s awesome, baby! The Dick Vitale you don’t see on TV

Untold stories of Dickie V, a good-hearted, boisterous and oversized personality who gives as much joy as he gets.

theathletic.com

Go Dick Vitale!!

 

[BleedGopher]

I have three personal Vitale stories to share, all a credit to a man who at least in each of these three interactions is as genuine as the dozens and dozens of stories told about him.

- First was at the 1997 Final Four. I was in the concourse before the UNC/Arizona game and was walking into a restroom. As I was walking in, Vitale was walking out and my two friends and I asked if we could take a picture with him. We were all decked in Gopher gear and he was commenting on how many Gopher fans were in attendance. Anyway, this was a pre-cell phone camera where you had to get them printed a few days later. After we took the picture he asked me (since it was my camera) if I would send him a copy of the picture and he'd sign it for us. He gave me the address at ESPN to send him the photo. I figured why not, what's the risk and so I sent it in a few days after the FF. Not more than a week later a package arrives in the mail with the photo signed as well as signed books for my two friends and me.

- Two years later I was working for the University of Kansas in the Sports Information Department. I would often get hired as a contract worker by ESPN/CBS, etc. to either work in the production truck manually changing the score on the TV or would serve as "talent stats" where you sit in between the play by play announcer and the color analyst. Well he came in town for a "Big Monday" game vs Iowa State and he was sick as a dog. You could see his eyes were bloodshot, he couldn't stop sneezing, etc. and as the game approached he was sick in his stomach. But he didn't want to let ESPN or the fans down. This was one of the games were I was doing talent stats so I would sit in between him and Ron Franklin keeping random stats like # of Paul Pierce dunks, # of times Ryan Robertson dove on the floor, etc. Well during halftime Vitale was becoming increasingly sick and asked me to make sure we had a trash can below him. During two different timeouts he barfed in the trash can and I had to take the dirty one out and bring him a new one. He felt so bad I had to do it, but heck, I'm like "I'll never forget this moment as I'm cleaning up Dick Vitale's puke." After the game he made sure to ask how to spell my name and I didn't know why...a week later a $100 check from Dick Vitale was sent to me at the KU SID Office and a note thanking me for helping him that night.

- Last story - about 10 years ago my wife and I were soliciting items for a silent auction benefiting a fundraiser for research for an autoimmune disease my Dad battled. I wrote a letter to a number of athletes asking for signed items that we could auction off (most obliged), except Vitale went so much further. He called me (I had left my phone number on each letter) and asked about the fundraiser, my Dad, etc. He said not only would he send me signed items, but he said he comes to Minnesota each year during the summer to fish and often plays tennis at Edina CC (Vitale and his family are very big in to tennis). And he allowed us to auction off a doubles match to play with him which ended up bringing in more than any other item we had in the silent auction.

Go Dick Vitale!!

 

[stocker08]

I have three personal Vitale stories to share, all a credit to a man who at least in each of these three interactions is as genuine as the dozens and dozens of stories told about him.

- First was at the 1997 Final Four. I was in the concourse before the UNC/Arizona game and was walking into a restroom. As I was walking in, Vitale was walking out and my two friends and I asked if we could take a picture with him. We were all decked in Gopher gear and he was commenting on how many Gopher fans were in attendance. Anyway, this was a pre-cell phone camera where you had to get them printed a few days later. After we took the picture he asked me (since it was my camera) if I would send him a copy of the picture and he'd sign it for us. He gave me the address at ESPN to send him the photo. I figured why not, what's the risk and so I sent it in a few days after the FF. Not more than a week later a package arrives in the mail with the photo signed as well as signed books for my two friends and me.

- Two years later I was working for the University of Kansas in the Sports Information Department. I would often get hired as a contract worker by ESPN/CBS, etc. to either work in the production truck manually changing the score on the TV or would serve as "talent stats" where you sit in between the play by play announcer and the color analyst. Well he came in town for a "Big Monday" game vs Iowa State and he was sick as a dog. You could see his eyes were bloodshot, he couldn't stop sneezing, etc. and as the game approached he was sick in his stomach. But he didn't want to let ESPN or the fans down. This was one of the games were I was doing talent stats so I would sit in between him and Ron Franklin keeping random stats like # of Paul Pierce dunks, # of times Ryan Robertson dove on the floor, etc. Well during halftime Vitale was becoming increasingly sick and asked me to make sure we had a trash can below him. During two different timeouts he barfed in the trash can and I had to take the dirty one out and bring him a new one. He felt so bad I had to do it, but heck, I'm like "I'll never forget this moment as I'm cleaning up Dick Vitale's puke." After the game he made sure to ask how to spell my name and I didn't know why...a week later a $100 check from Dick Vitale was sent to me at the KU SID Office and a note thanking me for helping him that night.

- Last story - about 10 years ago my wife and I were soliciting items for a silent auction benefiting a fundraiser for research for an autoimmune disease my Dad battled. I wrote a letter to a number of athletes asking for signed items that we could auction off (most obliged), except Vitale went so much further. He called me (I had left my phone number on each letter) and asked about the fundraiser, my Dad, etc. He said not only would he send me signed items, but he said he comes to Minnesota each year during the summer to fish and often plays tennis at Edina CC (Vitale and his family are very big in to tennis). And he allowed us to auction off a doubles match to play with him which ended up bringing in more than any other item we had in the silent auction.

Go Dick Vitale!!

Thanks for sharing. All very cool stories....and it really doesn't surprise me at all. I think most people realize that celebrities are people too.....and expecting too much from them is unreasonable. Vitale genuinely seems like someone who loves life and loves that he has gotten to spend his life around basketball. A rare type that knows that the extra effort might wear on him a bit....but he spreads a whole of of joy to others by going above and beyond expectation. You have three personal stories alone. Consider how many people he meets on a daily basis over the course of a super long career as a sports icon. Pretty extraordinary.

 

[jamiche]

You are right that famous people are people. My friend had incidental contact with Christian Laettner when he was with the wolves (wasn't asking for an autograph) and Laettner treated him poorly. My friend still talks about it. My wife had incidental contact with Tom Hanks many years ago (no autograph request). He couldn't have been nicer. She still talks about it.

Great stories about Vitale, Bleed!

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

Have really grown to like Vitale. Wish him the best.

 

[Unregistered User]

 

[Bad Gopher]

I loved that Athletic article and have been telling people stories from it since I read it. My favorite is the part about his mom, who became disabled later in life but who still made it to daily mass every day. Someone asked her why she continued to do that considering the difficulty, and she said there were always so many people who needed her prayers.

That hit me. The next Saturday in church, I thought about that hard. My wife has always been good about praying for people during mass, and I've never thought about it very much myself, but now I'm mindful of it each time I go. Like Mrs. Vitale said, it's important.

 

[Doc1001]

Its not much of a story but during a television coaches show taping at IDS building Dick spilled a cup of pop on me.