By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
SALINA — Dick Vitale is living the dream and then some, baby!
"I've lived a life that's exceeded any dream, I mean, come on, making a living doing something you love," the 80-year-old former coach and current college basketball analyst said Thursday evening.
Dickie V, as he is known in basketball arenas throughout the country, was in Salina Thursday to speak at the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce's annual banquet.
Vitale credits his parents for guiding him on his life journey. He said his parents were factory workers with fifth-grade educations, however he noted that they each had "a doctorate of love."
"They taught my brother, sister, and I in this great country, if you have passion about what you do, and you do it to the best of your ability, a lot of beautiful things are going to happen," he said.
Vitale said he carries with him to this day what his parents taught him.
The cruelty of others and the love of his mother
Vitale explained that when he was a boy, he lost the use of his left eye and that it would wander, not looking in the same direction as his right eye.
"I thought it was the end of the world," he said.
His mother, however, bolstered his feelings, telling the young Richie, as he was known as then, that he had something that others didn't: his spirit and excitement for life.
"Don't let them hold you back," his mother told him.
Vitale recalled being a little league pitcher and hearing other children's parents ridiculing him because of his eye.
"I went home and I cried like a baby. I had to go in my room and my mother would say 'what are you crying about?' Those people, they're all ridiculing my eye. I'm 12 years old. She inspired me. She said 'don't let them get the best of you,'" he said.
Fast-forward to when his two daughters were young and his wife, Lorraine, took them to have their eyes checked.
"The doctor says, by any chance, I noticed the name is Vitale. Are you, by any chance, related to Dick Vitale? She says 'yeah, that's my husband,'" Vitale recalled.
He said the doctor told Lorraine, "I'm a big basketball fan and I watch the games on TV. Has anyone ever talked to him about his eye...about correcting that eye?"
Lorraine told the doctor that Dick's mother had taken him to a number of doctors and received all sorts of reports. The doctor told Lorraine that he was talking about correcting movement in the eye so that it worked with the good eye, Vitale said. She went home and told him what the doctor had told her, but he wasn't interested.
An incident later, however, would prompt Vitale to pay a visit to the doctor. He explained that one day, after walking out of the studio, he asked the receptionist whether there were any calls. She replied, that just one guy had called and he had made her really mad because he he'd kept calling and demanding the company president's phone number. It seems the caller wanted to get Vitale off the air because he couldn't stand looking at Vitale's eye.
"It was like a knife went through me. It brought back the memories of little league," he said.
Vitale explained that he went home, called his boss -- Steve Anderson -- and told him that he was done with television and was going back into coaching because he was being ridiculed about his eye.
"He said 'Dick, we hired you because of your enthusiasm, your knowledge,'" Vitale said.
"I was crushed, so I told my wife I wanted to quit and coach and she said, 'don't be ridiculous!'" he added.
Eventually, Vitale went to see the doctor, a pediatric opthamologist, who told him he would make an exception and work on Vitale's eye.
Vitale's enthusiasm shines through
It's easy to see Vitale's enthusiasm for what he does, but what is his favorite part?
"I love being in the arena. Go to Kansas. When I went there for Rock Chock Jayhawk last Saturday, I walked in and the kids chanting "Dickie V" going in. I mean, I'm 80 years old and they treat me like ...you know, its unreal. Same thing the other night at Carolina-Florida State. It will happen again probably Saturday. I'm doing Indiana-Purdue. I love it. I eat, sleep, and drink it," Vitale said.
"It's not work. It is absolutely stealing money! To sit at court side. The best games in the country, week in and week out. I'd do it for nothing, basically, because I love doing it. And I think that's what keeps me going," he continued. "People say, where do you get your passion and your energy? Very simply, if you're doing something that you love, and you wake up and you're excited to go, its going to really give you that impetus, and that's what it does for me. It really, really excites me. I can't wait for the next game."