(SNN TV) — Longtime ESPN personality, Scott Van Pelt, has attended some of the biggest sporting events in the last half century. But on Friday, May 7, Van Pelt will attend the Dick Vitale for the first time, which might just be the most impactful of his career.
“Selfishly, I want to tap into that feeling; I want to be part of that,” Van Pelt said. “Because I know that I will go home better.”
Van Pelt joined the Entertainment and Sports Programing Network in 2001, after working as a studio host at the Golf Channel for five years. Currently, he heads ESPN’s Masters coverage every spring, and is the nightly host of the 11 p.m. SportsCenter. Van Pelt has seen the pictures, and heard the stories of the Annual Dick Vitale Gala, citing the star power that descends upon Sarasota every May.
“I’m not overstating it, it’s a legendary room,” Van Pelt said.
Van Pelt’s passion to step-up and be a part of an event like the Vitale Gala was ignited back in 2018, when he met Purdue super fan, Tyler Trent . Tyler, who became household name across the nation, passed away from bone cancer at the age of 20, in January, 2019. To this day, Van Pelt has a picture of himself and Tyler hanging on his wall at home.
“Life affirming,” Van Pelt said talking about his time with the Boilermaker fanatic. “This young man lit-up and was brilliant, the beauty of his soul was just on display.”
With more than $37 million already raised in the previous 15 Gala’s, Vitale uses stories such as Tyler’s to keep him going.
“That’s what fuels the anger in Dick Vitale when he talks about this stuff,” Van Pelt said. “It is a rage that he is filled with to fight, because of people like Tyler.”
It’s not how long you live, but instead the mark that you leave behind. Tyler showed that, and now every May, for the past decade and a half, Dick Vitale is doing the same.
“When he dies, may it be many years from now, I really think the first thing it should say is, ‘Dick Vitale, 120, who raised blank number of dollars to fight pediatric cancer passed away peacefully at his home,’ that’s what should be said about him first.”