No broadcaster has had more influence on college basketball than Dick Vitale, and the network he has called home for decades is ready to honor him.
ESPN Films will debut its new documentary, Dickie V, on July 20 on ESPN+. It will debut on cable three days later. The film will cover his coaching career, his broadcasting career, and his battle with cancer.
The ESPN+ debut of Dickie V coincides with Vitale being honored at the ESPYs. In addition to his own battle with cancer, Vitale has been active with the V Foundation, which he helped his friend and colleague Jim Valvano establish before his death in 1993. Dick Vitale will receive an award named for Valvano on July 20.
“Everyone knows the Dick Vitale that shows up with an energetic smile and enthusiastic conversation, but there is so much more to his character beyond his ‘Vitale-isms’,” the film’s producer Nick Nanton said in a press release. “In the process of making this film, I realized that his tenacity and heartfelt personality came from a place of deep hurt and a desire to help anyone who had felt the depths of loss he had felt. From childhood bullying by his peers due to the loss of his left eye, to a meteoric rise in coaching, only to be unceremoniously ousted from his dream job as head coach of the Detroit Pistons, to a ‘second career’ in broadcasting that turned out to be his true calling, Vitale’s journey of resilience is one that I know will resonate universally. His is a story of loss, triumph, giving and humanity. It’s one I simply had to tell.”
Magic Johnson, Mike Krzyzewski, Charles Barkley, and John Calipari were among the more than 40 people interviewed for the film.
