Dickie V Returns to Work for UNC-Duke Showdown

• Feb 5, 2008 05:59 PM ET
• by Richard1211

He's back, baby! College basketball's most famous voice returns to the airwaves Wednesday night, when Dick Vitale calls the North Carolina/Duke game (Feb. 6, 9 pm/ET, ESPN). The energetic sportscaster has been off the air for two months, recuperating from surgery to remove ulcerous lesions on his left vocal chord.

Though the lesions turned out to be non-cancerous, "It was a very emotional time the last few months," a chatty Vitale said Monday on a conference call with reporters. "There was a moment there I thought I'd never be behind a microphone again."

Vitale had surgery on Dec. 18, following a few years of increasing throat problems. "I've really gone though a tough, tough time," he says. "I did a great job of bluffing it and I was able to get through the telecasts over the last couple years, but I'm gonna tell you, every game I was a worried, nervous wreck as to what was coming out of my throat, because my throat was really a problem. It was really, really bothering me, big time."

Vitale is working with a voice coach and will cut back on doubleheaders and back-to-back TV days this season, but he's extremely grateful to be back. "I'm 68 years old. And I acted [it] for about a month and a half," he says. "And I can't wait for Wednesday night because I know I'll be 12 years old again, [being] a kid and having fun." Yeah, baby!