Dick Vitale also known as Richard John Vitale is an American basketball coach and ESPN broadcaster. He is also known for his charismatic character and quirky quotes like, “This is awesome, baby!” and “diaper dandy”.
He has written many books and appeared in several movies.
1. “The glory of sport is witnessing a well-coached team perform as a single unit, striving for a common goal and ultimately bringing distinction to the jersey the players represent.”-Dick Vitale.
When you spend your whole life loving a sport and coaching its players, you cannot help but get attached to it.
In sports you get to see your team perform as a single unit, to achieve the common goal of winning a match.
2. “I’m a basketball guy. No sitcom guy. I don’t care about all that jazz. I care about basketball.”-Dick Vitale.
People who love sports, do not love it for the glory but for the thrill of winning a match, and the excitement it brings.
Here Dick is saying the same thing that he does not care about the glamour because he is not a sitcom guy but rather a basketball player.
3. “I feel like I’m 68; I act like I’m 12, talking about a game of basketball.”-Dick Vitale.
When you love something, you will have a sparkle in your eyes while you talk about it.
You will speak about it with childlike innocence and it does not matter how much you have aged you will still feel the same love for it as you did when you were young.
4. “I have a problem with honoring mediocrity in so many cases over teams that have great years.”-Dick Vitale
Sometimes in sports, we see that people honor mediocrity over great play, and that is done for the media, it happens rarely though.
If you are doing good as a team you are bound to rise no matter what.
5. “I do a lot of motivational speaking in front of crowds, so I learn from some of these people. I really do, even at my age.”-Dick Vitale.
The person who continues to learn at every stage of life usually excels in life, and anyone can draw motivation from any person.
If you meet a lot of people you are bound to learn a lot from them, if you keep your eyes and ears open.
6. “I want to continue to learn because I plan on being around.”-Dick Vitale.
If you stop learning, then you will become redundant with time. Only those who are willing to keep on learning can stay around for a long time.
Great coaches and players, continue learning even when they have become old and that is what makes them irreplaceable.
7. “I love what I’m doing. I enjoy life.”-Dick Vitale.
It is a privilege to say that you do the work you love, many people in this world are stuck in a cycle where they do not love their work, but if you are one of the few privileged ones you will enjoy your life to the fullest.
8. “If Taylor Swift was on campus as a student, she’d be allowed to do concerts and make millions. Certain kids in every profession, be it the corporate world, the legal world, people on the top, and people on the bottom, can make those dollars. Why should we deny them?”-Dick Vitale.
If you get a certain opportunity because of your talent you should never be denied that, that is what Dick Vitale felt and believed in.
Certain people think it is wrong but he thinks otherwise.
9. “The biggest thing in my life – the biggest – is raising dollars to help kids battle cancer.”-Dick Vitale.
Dick had a special place in his heart for people who had cancer, he was several times seen talking about raising money for it.
If you are privileged and can help people you should definitely, do it.
10. “If you gave 110 percent all the time, a lot of beautiful things will happen.”-Dick Vitale.
Most of us never give our 100 percent to any situation. We are always in a situation half-heartedly.
Only, if we can give our full-time and energy to a situation, we can achieve the best result out of everything.
11. “I love seeing people that have control of a crowd in the palm of their hand. It’s beautiful for me to see.”–Dick Vitale.
Celebrities have fans, and they have the power to control these fans, in their hands.
Whatever they do, there will be some people who will follow them blindly, and that is what Dick is saying here.
12. “It’s not me. And I stayed with what I did, and I’m very proud that I did that because I make a great living.”–Dick Vitale.
If you feel you know what you want to do and what you love, it is very important to trust yourself and stick to it.
People who stick with what they love, and try to make a career out of it, can only achieve great success in life.
13. “I told them that I cannot lie when a writer asks me what’s my feeling not doing the game. I said I have to be honest. And my honest reply to you is, obviously, I’m a loyal team player. I will go where my bosses tell me to go.”-Dick Vitale
In the above quote Dick says that he is a team player and will do what his bosses tell him to do, he can not lie to writers just because people want him to do.
14. “An All-American is an ordinary person with an extraordinary desire to excel. You don’t get to the top of the mountain by just dreaming. It’s nice to dream. But it’s the work ethic and pride that makes you get to that mountain top and that level of success.”-Dick Vitale.
Everyone wants success but hardly anyone wants to work hard for that.
People see the glory but they do not see the hard work that goes behind that.
To reach the top of any field one must have a good work ethic, a willingness to work hard, and a desire to excel.
15. “Coaching to me is the ultimate high, especially when you have a game plan and you see that game plan executed to perfection.”-Dick Vitale.
A coach wants nothing more than for their plan to be executed properly.
Many people achieve their high from playing and many switch to coaching to be in touch with the sport, and what better joy than to see your hard work be fruitful?
16. “Life is simple. Life is all about decisions. Make good decisions and good things happen. Make bad decisions and bad things happen.”-Dick Vitale.
Every decision we take in life shapes our life and the direction in which it goes.
If we take good decisions, we will live a good life, otherwise, we will live a bad life.
Dick says it is as simple as that.
17. “Time is the key. If you give something your time, things bloom beautifully. Things happen beautifully when they are given time.”-Dick Vitale.
A flower takes time to bloom, a caterpillar takes time to become a butterfly, and every good thing needs time to nurture and bloom.
So does your work. When you give your work time and hard work then you will see the fruits of your hard work.
Out in hours in your work and you will see that you will improve.
18. “A winner is someone who can look in the mirror at the end of the day and say, ‘In pursuit of my goal and dreams, I gave my best.”-Dick Vitale.
The best day is when at the end of the day you can look yourself in the mirror and say that you have done your best.
If you give your 100 percent to your work, you will be satisfied, otherwise, you will know that you have not done enough.
Those who give their best every day are real winners.
19. “A loser is someone who makes excuses and alibis and blames everyone else for their losses and failures.”-Dick Vitale.
The people who make excuses for their failure and not being able to do a job are losers.
These reasons are just excuses that a person gives to oneself and others to make themselves feel good.
They are also the ones who blame others for their losses and failure and fail to acknowledge that it is because of their own shortcomings that they could not achieve their dreams.
20. “Life has good and bad times. And to get through them you have to battle. Life is not all smooth. I’ve had my bumps and bruises, like anybody, but I’ve always tried to look at life like a glass that’s half full.”-Dick Vitale.
Everyone’s life is full of struggle, even those who are on top of the leader board. We see them and feel like they have it all sorted out, but people fail to see the struggles they had to overcome and the failures they had to encounter to reach where they are today.
Life is full of good and bad times for everyone and the best way to live it is to see it as half full.