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Dick Vitale marched through the hallways of Lake Worth Medical Center with a purpose. Leading his crew of two (Howie Schwab of Stump the Schwabfame and a Texas sportswriter of no fame), Vitale was determined to get to the emergency room.

Vitale's usual on-air partner, Dan Schulman, had just undergone emergency surgery for appendicitis, and Vitale was almost frantic wondering how Schulman was doing.

At each door or counter, people tried to stop him. They all failed. Either by charm or bluster, Vitale led his mini-army to the emergency recovery room, where a doctor met them at the door.

Vitale went in alone, but several minutes later returned to the waiting room and almost physically pushed Schwab in. "Show him he has support," he demanded.

"And that is Dick in a nutshell. You guys shouldn't have gotten past the first counter, but when he's got something on his mind, you might as well get out of his way. He's more of a force than any player or coach he has ever covered."

Having breakfast with Dick Vitale is like watching the newest version of King Kong.It's entertaining, almost impossible to take your eyes off, but you find yourself wondering if it's ever going to end.

The man doesn't know how to say no. Every 30 seconds somebody walks up and asks him if he'd mind signing an autograph, or posing for a picture. And he never turns anybody away.

"Why would I do that?" he asks. "I've had every break in the world to get where I am, and the reason I am successful is because of the fans. I'm not going to destroy that by refusing to get involved with the public."

Here's a Cliffs Notes version of a Vitale breakfast. Take a bite, pose for a picture, take a quick phone call, eat two bites, sign three autographs . . . repeat.

To everybody, he's upbeat and kind, offering opinions if anybody asks (and sometimes when they don't), teasing everybody who approaches him, and at one point, holding a 2-year-old on his lap as the boy's father gets out his camera. Right before the flash, Vitale holds the child up and says loud enough for everybody a block away to hear, "It's a diaper dandy BABY!"

"What you see on the air from Dick is what you get," says Schwab. "There's no fakeness there. He is every bit as enthusiastic as he appears to be.

For all his bluster and sometimes outrageous outbursts, that's the biggest thing to remember about Vitale. He is as passionate about college basketball as anybody. To him, "it's the greatest sport there is."

"I love the talent of the players in the NBA," Vitale said. "But there's not much passion in the game. Same thing with any pro sport, I think, until maybe the playoffs.

"College football is great, but if you start out 1-2 or 1-3, the season is over. Even if you lose one game, you're probably not going to win the national championship.

"But college basketball? Your team can be under .500 in late February and still win a national title. It's doubtful but possible. And what could be more awesome than that?"

Before anybody can appreciate what Dick Vitale has achieved, and what he might still achieve, they should understand where he came from. There was a time in his life he was a heartbeat from being a half-blind, high school dropout with no prospects and no hope.

"I was a mess," he said. "I really didn't know what I was going to do with my life, and honestly, probably didn't care much. Thank God I have people who loved me in my life."

Raised in New Jersey, Vitale played basketball until a childhood accident caught up with him. Vitale lost an eye when he was a child, and although the vision in the eye was destroyed, he was able to deal with it through most of his formative years. But the eye became infected in his junior year of high school and the result was not what you'd expect of the Vitale everybody now knows.

"It made me give up for a while," he said. "I couldn't play basketball and I wasn't a great student, so I figured I might as well drop out and just get a job.

"But my mother wouldn't hear of it. She sat me down and in a not-so-gentle tone told me I was going to go to college and get a degree and make something of myself. She wouldn't hear of me doing anything different.

"I was so lucky as a kid growing up. My father gave me an incredible work ethic and my mother gave me belief in things beyond myself. Not everybody is so lucky."

Still, he wasn't convinced. It wasn't until his high school coach, Ken Sinofsky, used a kind of shock therapy on him ("he slammed me against the wall, slapped me, and called me an idiot for throwing my life away") that Vitale realized that tough love, was, after all, love.

"I woke up and got a bit smarter. I learned from them, and other people around me, that love should never be held back. That phrase, `If you love somebody, let it go' kind of applied to my life. My family and friends didn't let me go, but they made me see that they could. And that was enough."

Vitale woke up, and grew up, quickly. After graduating from high school and Seton Hall (he eventually achieved a masters in education from William Patterson College), he coached high school basketball in New Jersey, winning two consecutive state championships. He then was an assistant at Rutgers before becoming head coach at University of Detroit. While there, he went 78-30 before eventually getting the job as the Detroit Pistons' head coach.

"I learned about being humble in the NBA," Vitale jokes. "There were some good reasons we didn't do well, and although I wish I could have gotten more of a chance, it was probably a break that I got fired."

He was the analyst on ESPN's first college basketball broadcast, and it's been an uphill spiral ever since. At the Sarasota restaurant, people want to know how their favorite teams are going to do. Vitale not only tells them what he thinks, he tells them why he thinks it. In more detail than they probably wanted.

He has an incredible house in the Sarasota, Fla., area. More than 12,000 square feet, with a huge pool, an enormous yard and countless rooms. Televisions are on almost every wall (he says he's never been on all of them at once because his wife won't allow it) and where there is space, there are pictures, pictures and more pictures.

Some are Vitale with presidents, celebrities and sports stars. But most are shots of his family. His wife, children and grandchildren are No. 1 in his personal rankings.

"Without family, we're nothing." he says. "I learned that as a child and have carried it through my life. I've come so far from when I was a kid and am thankful for that. I'm able to live a great life and have whatever I want.

"But what I truly want is for my family to be happy and secure forever. THAT is what I want my legacy to be. Not the fact that I was a somewhat well-known television guy."

His devotion to things close to him isn't restricted to his family, however. He co-chairs the Jimmy V. Foundation (with Mike Krzyzewski and John Saunders), which is one of the most prominent organizations in the battle against cancer.

"This illness has to be wiped out," Vitale says, his voice dropping well below its usual level. "So many people are devastated by it, and not just the ones who are ill. It destroys lives; it destroys families."

If you think Vitale is fanatical about basketball, you have no idea just how fanatical he can be. The Jimmy V. Foundation has raised more than $50 million, but it's only a starting point.

"I can't even begin to tell people how important beating this disease is to me," Vitale says. "I truly believe that everybody should help, if they're able, because the chances are, cancer will affect somebody you know or love."

In addition to his hard work, Vitale fights the battle against cancer with his own finances. Portions of the profits from Dick Vitale merchandising (you can buy Vitale basketballs, bobbleheads, books, "diaper dandy" clothes for babies and even a clock radio with "WAKE UP BABY. . . . IT'S AN AWESOME DAY") go to the foundation.

Critics of Dick Vitale (and there are a lot of them) have several complaints. They think his enthusiasm is false, his knowledge is limited, he's too loud, etc., etc. But the biggest consistent criticism is that he's in Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's pocket.

"I've heard that for years and I almost never respond to it because it's garbage," he says. "But you know what? I'm going to tell you what I think of it.

"First, what's not to like? Duke wins, it wins the right way, the kids get degrees and there aren't many off-court incidents. Are they always right? Absolutely not. And if they're wrong, I'll be the first to say it."

Perception usually depends on what people want to see. Vitale might cover three Texas or Connecticut games in a season and eight or nine Duke games. ESPN has decided that the Blue Devils are a rating bonanza, so the network schedules Vitale to cover more of their games.

And in most of those, the Blue Devils win. So the viewer is seeing Vitale praise Duke for seven or eight games, as opposed to two or three for the Longhorns or Huskies.

"I have great respect for Mike and his team," Vitale said. "I won't apologize for it. But to say that I favor them over any other team just isn't right. I have no direct ties."

"Does Coach K mess up sometimes?" he asks. "I think so. But he's in the Hall of Fame and I'm not, so maybe I'm wrong. But I can honestly say I have no rooting interest, except that a good performance by Duke is good for college basketball. There always has to be a team people love to hate. The New York Yankees or Notre Dame in football ... without them their sports wouldn't have as much passion. And Duke does add that to college basketball, love it or hate it."

The same might be said of Vitale. People aren't neutral on him, either loving him or not being able to stand him. But like Krzyzewski, he's identified with college basketball. Vitale was recently nominated for the Basketball Hall of Fame and, while he might be elected this year, it should be inevitable, considering his impact on the game. With or without Duke.

There is nobody as passionate about the sport as Vitale and very few people as knowledgeable. And yet, there is a generation of fans that believes he's all sizzle and no steak. His loudness and ESPN shtick at times camouflages exactly how insightful he is about the game and the people who play and coach it.

"Everybody has their own taste," ESPN broadcaster Jay Bilas said at the Maui Invitational last November. "And to some people, they look at Dick and see one thing. But I can flat out tell you that nobody in this business understands the game the way he does. I've learned a lot from listening to him, really listening. And as for the complaints that he's a shill and a fake, it is the furthest thing from the truth. He's the ultimate professional."

"If you want to say I'm too loud, fine," he says. "If you want to say I look at the game with rose-colored glasses, also fine. I'm my own toughest critic. I second-guess myself constantly and sometimes feel that I am too soft on players or coaches.

"The Internet has hurt the sport," he says. "One of the worst things ever conceived, at least to me, is chat rooms. I think it's great that fans - true fans - have a place to talk about their favorite players, their games, all that stuff. But so many of those rooms are just negative pits. Players, who, remember, are still kids, are ripped like they are pros. Coaches, who have done amazing things, these so-called fans demand that they be fired.

"It doesn't matter that none of those "fans" would have the first clue on how to coach a team on the court and even less of an idea how to deal with athletes off the court," he adds. "But, hey, just fire the coach or verbally attack a kid. That will solve it."

"Nothing is all bad," Vitale says. "There are more players that are college-ready now because of AAU play. Kids learn how to deal with playing at tough places and they get used to great competition.

"But there are always the guys who think they can go a step above. Guys who will try to convince their players not to go to a certain school because of personality problems, or worse, shoe contract disputes. I gotta wonder when the kids became the second-most important thing in the game, besides money."

"But they're fixable problems, and they're being worked on. And for whatever is the matter with the sport, it doesn't even begin to balance what's right about it. And that's one reason why I'm planning on sticking around for as long as they'll have me."

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