Dick Vitale

As if one Dick Vitale were not enough, here comes Charlie Inverso, a soccer coach and schoolteacher from New Jersey, with an impersonation so convincing he won a trip to the finals of ESPN's Dick Vitale Sound-Alike Contest this weekend at the Final Four in Charlotte, N.C. "This," Inverso said from his Hamliton Township home, "is Dick Vitale as a history teacher. " Inverso cleared his throat and paused. Then . . . "Hey, but you talk about a guy that makes the all-wacko team, you gotta go up to Boston and you gotta be talking about a guy by the name of Samuel Adams.

Charlie Inverso was so much like Dick Vitale that he won a Dick Vitale impersonation contest sponsored by a soft drink and ESPN on April 3. The Mercer County Community College men's soccer coach was judged better than four other contestants in the contest, which was held in a sports bar in Charlotte, N.C., during the NCAA Final Four. For his efforts, Inverso won a JetSki and a year's supply of the soft drink. He can also attend the game of his choice that Vitale announces next basketball season.

Dick Vitale will be absent from ESPN's NCAA Tournament reports in the next few days as he is scheduled to undergo hernia surgery today. Vitale told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he has had the hernia for about 5 years, but it has progressed to the point that he needs the surgery. Vitale, 65, said he plans to appear on ESPN's coverage next week via satellite from his home, then be on site at the Final Four the following week in St. Louis.

Hoo, baby! It's that time again! Really! So, are you ready for another season of PTPs (Prime-Time Players) and All-Windex teams? Dick Vitale, the hyperactive college basketball announcer for ESPN and ABC, obviously is. Vitale fairly froths at the mouth in anticipation of tonight's telecast of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic from Springfield, Mass. (ESPN, 9 o'clock). "I call UCLA a Dunkin' Donut team, without a dominating, shot-blocking presence in the middle," Vitale said in giving his capsule evaluation of the 11th-ranked Bruins, tonight's opponent for No. 2 Indiana.

Dick Vitale, the bombastic basketball commentator who does his broadcasting on the ESPN cable TV network, discusses "Vitale," his autobiography, with Larry King at 11 tonight on WIP (AM/610). Appearing with Vitale is Washington Post sportswriter John Feinstein, whose new book is called "A Season Inside. " He also wrote a controversial biography of Indiana University basketall coach Bobby Knight. Nick Clooney (he's Rosemary's brother) hosts "On Trial," a show featuring real courtroom cases seen weekdays at 11:30 a.m. on Channel 29. He discusses the show with Steve Friedman on "Entertainment at Noon" today on WCAU (AM/ 1210)

When ESPN lost the rights to broadcast the early NCAA Tournament games, it appeared that Dick Vitale no longer would be conducting his all-day television marathons, predicting the winners and the losers and the PTPers (that's Prime Time Players, for the uninitiated) and generally running his infamous mouth throughout the proceedings. Wrong. March Madness has come and Dick Vitale has been, as usual, inescapable. It was a given that he would do an NCAA highlight show, a few round-table discussions, maybe a guest appearance here and there.

Have an extra supply of earplugs handy: Dick Vitale has signed a new contract with ESPN that will keep him blaring on the air through 2000. Vitale called his career with ESPN "a fantasy. " "I did the first game in 1979, De Paul at Wisconsin," he said yesterday. "I had just gotten fired (as the Detroit Pistons' coach) and didn't know where my career was going. "When this (contract) is completed, I'll be 60. I act about 12. I hope I keep that (enthusiasm). " During a conference call, I asked Vitale if he is concerned about his friend, Bob Knight.

This is the stuff of legends. Dick Vitale should know; he is the one who tells it. He is standing courtside in raucous Greensboro Coliseum before the start of a 1986 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament game between Virginia and Georgia Tech. He is preparing to do an interview when a group of never-bashful UVA undergrads approach and ask for Vitale's autograph. Vitale, never bashful himself, signs the programs and slips of paper and then asks, "Hey, don't you want this guy's autograph?"

ON FRIDAY NIGHT, as Dick Vitale likes to say, Sarasota will become the toast of the sports world, as ESPN's voice of college basketball hosts his seventh annual Gala at the Ritz-Carlton to benefit The V Foundation for Cancer Research.. Celebrities will be all over the place, from John Calipari and Greg Schiano to Ricky Watters and Gary Sheffield. This year's three honorees are Lou Holtz, Gary Williams and, well, some other guy. "Yeah, right," said Villanova coach Jay Wright.

John Chaney is 68. He might outlast Joe Paterno. Or he might be nearing the end of a memorable ride. He won a Division II national title in 1978 with Cheyney State. He will go into the basketball Hall of Fame, even if he never makes it to a Final Four at this level. If this season's team doesn't make it to Indianapolis, there will be those who insist he can't win the big one. That's the reality of the situation. That doesn't make it right. "That's one of the negatives of the NCAA Tournament, and maybe a reflection of our society," said CBS analyst Billy Packer.

Playing basketball in the Big East has always conferred an in inherent advantage for Villanova, at least when it came to recruiting: If a player wanted to be play on the big stage—and do so in the city that loves to love you back—they had one option. When the Wildcats wanted a local prospect—that was their trump card. And there wasn't anything anyone else could do about it. But in case you haven't been paying attention, the landscape has been altered. Dramatically.

ON FRIDAY NIGHT, as Dick Vitale likes to say, Sarasota will become the toast of the sports world, as ESPN's voice of college basketball hosts his seventh annual Gala at the Ritz-Carlton to benefit The V Foundation for Cancer Research.. Celebrities will be all over the place, from John Calipari and Greg Schiano to Ricky Watters and Gary Sheffield. This year's three honorees are Lou Holtz, Gary Williams and, well, some other guy. "Yeah, right," said Villanova coach Jay Wright.

NEW YORK - There was the one time, around the holidays, when Brandon Jennings said he thought about coming home. He had defied the college basketball world and defied convention by jumping from high school to European professional basketball, spending his required year of pre-NBA apprenticeship out of earshot of Dick Vitale. He said he was fine with it, positive about it, until Christmas in Italy. "I was on the verge of saying, 'I've had enough of this, I want to go home,' " Jennings said yesterday, on the day before the NBA draft that college coaches everywhere will be watching very carefully.

Dick Vitale will be absent from ESPN's NCAA Tournament reports in the next few days as he is scheduled to undergo hernia surgery today. Vitale told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he has had the hernia for about 5 years, but it has progressed to the point that he needs the surgery. Vitale, 65, said he plans to appear on ESPN's coverage next week via satellite from his home, then be on site at the Final Four the following week in St. Louis.

John Chaney is 68. He might outlast Joe Paterno. Or he might be nearing the end of a memorable ride. He won a Division II national title in 1978 with Cheyney State. He will go into the basketball Hall of Fame, even if he never makes it to a Final Four at this level. If this season's team doesn't make it to Indianapolis, there will be those who insist he can't win the big one. That's the reality of the situation. That doesn't make it right. "That's one of the negatives of the NCAA Tournament, and maybe a reflection of our society," said CBS analyst Billy Packer.

Twenty years of Dick Vitale on ESPN? To those who get chills when they hear Vitale's booming voice and familiar expressions, it probably seems more like 40 deafening years of "PTPers, baby. " Love him or loathe him, Vitale has emerged as a major sports personality. After some Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament duty this weekend, he'll be involved in the NCAA Tournament as an ESPN studio analyst. Twenty years of journeys to ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn. - time flies when you're having fun. "My first trip here, we had a trailer," Vitale said yesterday.

Charlie Inverso was so much like Dick Vitale that he won a Dick Vitale impersonation contest sponsored by a soft drink and ESPN on April 3. The Mercer County Community College men's soccer coach was judged better than four other contestants in the contest, which was held in a sports bar in Charlotte, N.C., during the NCAA Final Four. For his efforts, Inverso won a JetSki and a year's supply of the soft drink. He can also attend the game of his choice that Vitale announces next basketball season.

Former Father Judge quarterback George Beisel is in the same company as Bart Starr, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Ken Stabler, Terry Bradshaw and O.J. Simpson: All are winners of the Iron Mike Award. As NFL Most Valuable Players, the others received the Iron Mike Award from the Long Island Athletic Club. Last month, Beisel accepted his Iron Mike when he was named the 12th Hofstra University MVP. "I was surprised and really happy about it," Beisel said yesterday from the Hofstra campus.

As if one Dick Vitale were not enough, here comes Charlie Inverso, a soccer coach and schoolteacher from New Jersey, with an impersonation so convincing he won a trip to the finals of ESPN's Dick Vitale Sound-Alike Contest this weekend at the Final Four in Charlotte, N.C. "This," Inverso said from his Hamliton Township home, "is Dick Vitale as a history teacher. " Inverso cleared his throat and paused. Then . . . "Hey, but you talk about a guy that makes the all-wacko team, you gotta go up to Boston and you gotta be talking about a guy by the name of Samuel Adams.

Have an extra supply of earplugs handy: Dick Vitale has signed a new contract with ESPN that will keep him blaring on the air through 2000. Vitale called his career with ESPN "a fantasy. " "I did the first game in 1979, De Paul at Wisconsin," he said yesterday. "I had just gotten fired (as the Detroit Pistons' coach) and didn't know where my career was going. "When this (contract) is completed, I'll be 60. I act about 12. I hope I keep that (enthusiasm). " During a conference call, I asked Vitale if he is concerned about his friend, Bob Knight.