Oh Yeah Baby!

Dick Vitale makes his way to San Diego

SAN DIEGO DAILY

Known for his raspy voice and true passion for the game, Dick Vitale has become synonymous with college basketball. The bald-headed, loud-mouthed New Jersey native has worked for ESPN for 30 years and serves as college basketball’s premier analyst and ambassador. But San Diego’s college basketball scene has never been considered premier, so Vitale has never really had a reason to come here; that is, until now.

Last Thursday, Dick Vitale and all his basketball glory came to the University of San Diego to promote his new book, Dick Vitale’s 50 Fabulous Players and Moments in College Basketball. Being an enthusiastic young basketball fan, I decided to make my way up to the University of San Diego to see if I couldn’t get a glimpse of the timeless Dickie V.

I showed up at the bookstore on the USD campus and suddenly found myself in a line of 50-some-odd fans, all eager to see Vitale. After about five minutes of listening to the girl behind me ask her boyfriend who exactly Dickie V was, and five more minutes of listening to that same girl exclaim “I don’t get it,” in her best valley-girl voice, I decided to pick up a copy of Vitale’s book. And shortly after flipping past a profile of North Carolina’s Michael Jordan to a description of Loyola Marymount’s Bo Kimble shooting a left-handed free throw to honor his friend and teammate Hank Gather, I heard the crowd begin to cheer.

The bald-headed, loud-mouthed, New Jersey native, who was shorter than I had expected, was making his way past me to his autograph-signing table. Before he could get to the table he was confronted by a reporter from San Diego 4, who asked Vitale point-blank, “Why San Diego?”

Vitale turned to the reporter, then to the crowd (which had begun cheering by this point) and gave the reporter the phrase we had all been waiting for …“Oh Yeah Baby!” Vitale went on to explain what a great run the University of San Diego Toreros had last year, winning the WCC and beating UConn in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and what a pleasure it was to be in such a great city.

But enough with the questions — it was time for Dickie V to take his seat and begin meeting the fans, which he did as soon as he was done telling one of the girls in line that she was way too good-looking for the guy that she was with. The line began to move, Vitale began to sign and before I knew it I was next in line. I took the short walk from the line to the table and was greeted with “Hey young fella.” My response: “Holy crap you’re Dick Vitale; I freaking love you.” Okay, so that response was only in my head. Outside my head, my response was a nervous “Uh, hey.”

I was a little disappointed with my stage fright so I decided to stick around for a bit, hoping to witness just a little Dickie V magic. My hope was not in vain as Dickie V gave the crowd just a little magic before he left. Standing up from his table, Vitale began to walk up and down the line offering some words of wisdom for the young college students in attendance. Insert raspy voice here: “You know, I’m 69 years old, and in all my years I’ve learned a lot of things. Have passion in all you do. Be better today than you were yesterday. Make good decisions and good things will happen to you. Remember you can con everyone around you, but you can never con the mirror so do that which is right.”

The words may have been a little cliché, but seeing the passion with which they were spoken was truly inspirational. Vitale returned to his seat, made sure everyone who had come to see him did so, and then he was gone. It may have been a short amount of time, but for at least two hours the University of San Diego was big time.

Dick Vitale’s 50 Fabulous Players and Moments in College Basketball, is on sale now at the University of San Diego bookstore, 5998 Alcala Park, 619-260-4551, usdbookstore.com. For more information on Dick Vitale and his new book, visit dickvitaleonline.com.

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to San Diego Magazine »