Vitale Named Recipient of CoSIDA's Jackson Award
PHILADELPHIA (March 14, 2008) - Dick Vitale, ESPN's lead college basketball analyst for nearly 30 years, is the 2008 recipient of the Keith Jackson Eternal Flame Award presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Vitale will be presented the award on June 30 at the kickoff luncheon of CoSIDA's Workshop to be held at the Tampa Waterside Marriott from June 28-July 2.
The Keith Jackson Eternal Flame Award is presented to an individual, who, or an organization which, has made a lasting contribution to intercollegiate athletics, has demonstrated a long and consistent commitment to excellence and has been a loyal supporter of CoSIDA and its mission.
"Dick Vitale has been an advocate for everything that is good in college athletics so it is with great joy that CoSIDA bestows upon him one of its most prestigious honors," said CoSIDA President Charles Bloom.
"I am honored and absolutely in awe to have my name associated with Keith Jackson who is synonymous with college football," said Mr. Vitale. "Also, this honor is so special due to the utmost respect I have for all the Sports Information Directors across the country who are such valuable assets to intercollegiate athletics."
Mr. Vitale, who has been a face of ESPN's college basketball broadcast team since 1979, has served as a head coach on the scholastic, collegiate and professional levels. Mr. Vitale called ESPN's first-ever NCAA basketball game - Wisconsin at DePaul on Dec. 5, 1979 (a 90-77 DePaul win). Since then, he has called close to a thousand games, including NBA contests for ESPN during the 1983 and '84 seasons. Mr. Vitale has been inducted into seven Halls of Fame for his service to the game of basketball, and was the 1998 recipient of the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media Award. In 2001, he received CoSIDA's Jake Wade Award which is presented annually to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution in the media to the field of intercollegiate athletics.
The award, which was established in 1998 when it was presented to Jackson, has only been bestowed five times prior to this year. Besides Jackson, who teamed with Vitale earlier in his career, GTE Corporation (1999), CBS' Dick Enberg (2001), ESPN's Rosa Gatti (2003) and Jim Albright (2005) formerly of Eastman Kodak have all received this prestigious honor.