John Clay: Dick Vitale is in another fight against cancer. For the fourth time, it's his own.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Even if you think Dick Vitale is an overexposed, overbearing and overcaffeinated bloviator of the highest order who sends you directly to the mute button each time he appears on your television, you should keep Dickie V in your prayers.

Here’s why: College basketball’s most famous broadcaster underwent surgery Tuesday morning to remove a cancerous lymph node in his neck discovered during a quarterly checkup last week.

This is the fourth time in the last five years that Vitale has been diagnosed with cancer. The 85-year-old has been previously treated for melanoma, lymphoma and cancer on his vocal cords.

All this for the man who has raised millions of dollars for pediatric cancer research. On May 3, Vitale’s 19th annual gala in Sarasota, Florida, raised $24.8 million for the Jimmy V Foundation and cancer research, including a $12 million gift from Mark and Cindy Pentecost, the founder of It Works.

Vitale’s health problems have been the main reason why we haven’t seen the sport’s most visible and enthusiastic broadcaster on the airwaves much over the last couple of seasons.

Maybe you haven’t missed him. I get it. Vitale is a love-him-or-hate-him guy. You either go for his enthusiasm, his “Awesome Baby” and “Diaper Dandies” and “PTPers” and love for the “Cameron Crazies” and all things Notre Dame or you consider him the ultimate self-promoter.

Even as a Vitale defender, I will admit that at times his penchant for talking about everything but the game we are watching — an enduring pet peeve with all ESPN announcers — can drive a viewer up the wall.

Here’s what I do know: Dick Vitale is one of the nicest people on the planet.

He has never turned down a picture request or autograph request or interview request or hospital visit or motivational phone call. He has gone out of his way to help people. In more ways than any of us can count.

And the “one-eyed, bald-headed guy” has done as much or more to promote college basketball as anyone else. It’s the reason why he’s in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the College Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame.

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