2023 Dick Vitale Gala another special evening

The passion never wavers. 

It's the thing that continues to surprise me most about Dick Vitale, though at this point it shouldn't. Vitale, the Hall of Fame college basketball broadcaster and a Lakewood Ranch resident, has been hosting the Dick Vitale Gala for 18 years now. It started as a party in his backyard, a way to help The V Foundation for Cancer Research as much as he could. It has grown into a multimillion dollar fundraiser. 

But a lot of people host fundraisers. A lot of people say they care about the causes behind them. I'm sure plenty of them actually do. But few, if any, speak about the cause as frequently and with as much passion as Vitale speaks on pediatric cancer. 

The 2023 Dick Vitale Gala, held May 5 at The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, was no different. At a pre-gala press conference, Vitale said his goal, as usual, was to break the previous year's fundraising record. It's never an easy task, but to do it in 2023 was a bit more challenging than usual. All year, he's known it would be. The 2022 gala raised $11.1 million for pediatric cancer research, beating the 2021 mark by approximately $4 million. That was wonderful, but unexpected, he said, and it caused him a bit of panic the day after the gala, wondering how he'd pull enough funds to beat it this year.

He shouldn't have worried. Vitale announced May 6 that the gala raised $12.4 million, making it another record-breaking night. Part of that fundraising comes from the event's appealing experiences and trips put into the silent auction for bidding, like a trip to the U.S. Open tennis tournament. It includes VIP tickets to the men's and women's doubles finals in the ESPN suite and a chance to mingle with legends like John McEnroe and Patrick McEnroe, two of the gala's 2023 honorees. Another part comes from things like a car raffle: the prize this year was a 2023 Porsche Taycan. 

But a lot of the fundraising also comes from people who hear Vitale's passion and want to help. Vitale tweeted that Mark and Cindy Pentecost, the founders of It Works!, gave $2 million at the gala, for instance. Not as part of a bid, mind you, just as a donation.

It's a common sentiment among the event's honorees, too: hear Vitale speak, and it's hard not to come away invigorated. 

"The reason I got into broadcasting was because of Dick," Patrick McEnroe, an ESPN tennis analyst, said. "I heard this guy screaming and yelling and said, 'That sounds like fun.' 

"But as I said to him in numerous texts as we became good friends over the last few years, he's left mark on broadcasting, but he's left an even bigger mark with what he's doing here." 

And it's not only about the event with Vitale's name on it, either. He'll help raise funds for other events supporting pediatric cancer patients. Former San Francisco Giants catcher and 2012 National League MVP Buster Posey, a 2023 honoree, said that in 2016, Vitale visited UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in San Francisco with Posey and his wife, Kristen Posey, as part of an event hosted by BP28, the Posey family's charity dedicated to helping pediatric cancer patients. 

Maybe ESPN's Kevin Negandhi, who served as the event's emcee, summed up the special appeal of the night best. 

"We are here to kick cancer's ass," Negandhi said. "You cannot face cancer by yourself and beat cancer. What you need is a team. What Dick has done here with The V Foundation, what Lorraine (Vitale, Dick Vitale's wife) has done here, we're a team. We are here to support the families and friends and kids that go through this day in and day out. This is Dick's lasting legacy because from the beginning, he's gone all the way with the sincerity." 

Since going through his own cancer scare in 2021-2022 with melanoma and lymphoma, Vitale has only increased his efforts. He knows now what the kids he's fighting for go through, he said. And he had a lot of people in his corner. Some he knew well, but others, like 2023 gala honoree Rick Barnes, he did not. That didn't stop Barnes, the University of Tennessee men's basketball coach, from helping however he could. 

"All of a sudden, I get a text message (from Barnes)," Vitale said. "For five straight months, I kid you not, I got a personal prayer from him, encouraging and inspiring me. In those dark moments when I was down, laying in the hospital, he gave me a lift." 

When you're good to people, people are good back to you. The way Vitale has dedicated his time to pediatric cancer patients is always inspiring. The 2023 gala was no exception. Vitale joked that he'll spend the day after the gala wondering how he'll top it in 2024, but he'll find a way. 

His passion never fails to amaze.