21st annual Dick Vitale Gala focused on pediatric cancer research

While being poked with needles for bloodwork or hooked up to different machines tracking the cancer in his body, Dick Vitale's mind is elsewhere.

As much as the phone calls delivering a cancer diagnosis — the most recent one coming in April — have rocked him, or the doctor's visits filled with chemotherapy and immunotherapy have left the 86-year-old feeling feverish and tired, he's thinking about the children that shouldn't have to go through this.

Sometimes he thinks about the little girl who's a Courageous Kid alum — the name of the children honored during his annual gala, who have experienced pediatric cancer — when she was 9. Now, she's cancer-free and a teacher.

A lot of the time, he thinks about Payton Wright from Lakewood Ranch, who inspired his pediatric cancer research efforts. In 2006, she was diagnosed with brain cancer at age 4. She had intense rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. The sickness paralyzed her before she died a year later. On the car ride home from her funeral, Vitale told his wife, Lorraine, she would not die in vain.

"I'm obsessed more than ever because I have to see what I go through in terms of scans and blood work," Vitale told The Herald-Tribune. "All kinds of blood work and scans to see where I'm going, progress, and all that. I can't imagine 7-, 8-year-old kids."

The long-time ESPN sports commentator held his 21st annual Dick Vitale Gala on Friday, May 1 at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota. The gala is dedicated to pediatric cancer research in collaboration with the V Foundation, a non-profit organization named after N.C. State head coach Jim Valvano, who died in 1993 due to glandular cancer.

Since 2006, the gala has raised over $100 million. Every year, sports figures are honored. The 2026 class included UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma, Michigan State men's basketball coach Tom Izzo, and Houston men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.

Vitale, who has melanoma in his lung and liver, delayed his third immunotherapy treatment until after the gala. He didn't want the side effects to impact his speech, the voice the sports world knows for its energy and emotion.

"It's going to be a battle," Vitale said through tears, "But I'm going to win that battle. I swear to you. I'm gonna win that battle. I'm going to fight."

On Friday, he talked about his parents and his mom's encouragement to pursue coaching past the high-school level and outside of small-town New Jersey, despite numerous rejections. His mom told Vitale he had a personality, spirit, and passion that needed to be shared. He recalled some of his favorite memories from past galas and his fundraising goals for the night, all of it in an attempt to inspire the kids and the people around them to donate.

The honorees echoed Vitale's call to donate, praising the commentator in the process. Auriemma said Vitale is unique, someone who can galvanize others in the way few can. And while it's hard to measure how many lives he's affected by calling games, Auriemma saw the tangible evidence of the lives he's touched through cancer research at the gala.

"He kind of created a persona that was synonymous with college basketball, and that would have been a huge thing for him to do," Auriemma said. "And then he took all that and brought the same passion of calling games, getting the fans riled up, and getting all the kids going crazy — he takes it, brings it to an event like this."

When Sampson was coaching at Oklahoma, Vitale visited his house to speak to fans and donors. Vitale told Sampson about the gala, which was still in its early years, and invited him to come. So, he did.

While listening to a story about a little boy battling cancer, Sampson cried in the audience. At every school he's coached at since, Sampson has been a member of Coaches vs. Cancer, a collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches devoted to cancer awareness and research.

"They fell in love with the game because of the way Dick talked, his energy behind the microphone," Sampson said, later adding, "They just like the way that bald-headed guy talks that makes me want to listen to him. But over the years, instead of listening to his shtick, they started listening to what he had to say."

And over the years, Vitale has done a lot of talking, but to conserve energy on Friday, attendees also made sure he did a lot of hearing.

So, a written message from Emily Ayers, a Courageous Kid member, was shared aloud to begin the gala. She was diagnosed with leukemia in 2016 at 7 years old. Vitale had already read it and shared it. But he waved to a now-teenage, cancer-free Ayers when she stood up, and the moderator began.

"I can't even begin to explain what you mean to me, us kids, and so many people," Ayers' message said. "I know you have yet another battle yourself. I just want you to know that all of us kids are supporting you along the way...I always say that in order to achieve something, you have to have a team behind you that supports and loves you. That’s exactly what you and the V Foundation are. Now it’s our turn..."

Vitale listened, his lips trembling.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: 21st Dick Vitale Gala honored Geno Auriemma, Tom Izzo, Kelvin Sampson