Prayers for Dick Vitale

By Jay Horwitz

I am sure Dick Vitale doesn’t remember me but I certainly remember him.

Over 50 years ago we worked together on a mid-summer NBA charity game at Clifton High School to raise funds for a local youngster, Sammy Davis.

Thanks to Dick we made a couple of thousand and had such Boston Celtic greats as Tommy Heinsohn, K.C. Jones and Sam Jones at the contest.

Six decades later, he is still in the fundraising business. Despite his own heroic battle with cancer, Dick’s hard work and dedication has brought in millions upon millions of dollars for the Jimmy V Foundation.

When we first met I was a sports reporter for the Herald News and he was the head coach at East Rutherford High School, where the tutored the great Les Cason.

Dick is one of the most caring people I have ever met and I send my prayers to him down to his home in Florida.