Vitale publishes new book

LAKEWOOD RANCH — As legendary basketball coach and ESPN commentator sits in the shade of the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club’s tennis facility, watching youth volley balls across the tennis court, he has one thing on his mind: impacting children affected by cancer.

Two weeks ago, Vitale came out with his newest book, “It’s Awesome, Baby! 75 Years of Memories and a Lifetime of Opinions on the Game I Love.”

With a forward by Magic Johnson — whom Vitale met when Johnson was in high school and tried to recruit to the University of Detroit — the book is full of personal stories and old photographs.

“There are stories in here I’ve never shared before,” Vitale says.

Vitale shares how he was bullied as a child after an accident left him blind in his left eye — how parents and children would heckle him while he played Little League baseball because of his lazy eye, and how that same handicap, as an adult, nearly made him quit his television career.

Vitale says the response to the new book — his 12th — has been great.

“It is a fun kind of book,” said Vitale, who co-authored the book with sports columnist Dick Weiss and writer Joan Williamson.

But for Vitale, who has five grandchildren of his own, the book’s dedication is most significant. It’s dedicated to 10 children who have died from pediatric cancer; they or their families attended Vitale’s annual fundraising gala, which, to date, cumulatively has raised $12.7 million for pediatric cancer research through The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

He points to a sign promoting the Payton Wright Foundation that hangs from the chain-link fence of the tennis court. Holly and Patrick Wright founded the Lakewood Ranch-based organization after losing their daughter, Payton, to brain cancer in May 2007. She’s one of the 10 children to whom the book is dedicated.

“Four percent of every dollar for cancer research is for pediatrics; it’s not enough,” Vitale says. “If it was enough, I wouldn’t be dedicating this book to those kids. These kids won’t be forgotten.”

ORDER NOW
You can order Vitale’s new book online or at stores such as Barnes & Noble.

Locally, individuals can purchase autographed copies through Dick Vitale’s website, dickvitaleonline.com, or at:

• First Watch Lakewood Ranch, 8306 Market St., Lakewood Ranch.

• Another Broken Egg Lakewood Ranch, 6115 Exchange Way, Lakewood Ranch.

When he is in town, Vitale rotates having breakfast between those two locations and is available to personalize autographs.