Dungy has longtime connection to Vitale

It was an otherwise forgotten college basketball game from 1973. The University of Detroit, coached by Dick Vitale, upset the Minnesota Golden Gophers on the road with a buzzer-beating shot.

Tony Dungy played for Minnesota that night.

"You changed to the right sport when you went football, baby," Vitale said Friday night as he hugged Dungy prior to the Dick Vitale Gala at the Sarasota Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

"Basketball was my first love," Dungy said. "But you're probably right. You had a lot more hair back then, Dick."

The humorous by-play was just a prelude to a star-studded evening, which raised $1 million for the V Foundation for Cancer Research. It will fund research grants for doctors at St. Petersburg's All Children's Hospital and Tampa's Moffitt Cancer and Research Center.

The event attracted a who's who of college basketball coaches, including the likes of Kentucky's John Calipari and North Carolina's Roy Williams.

But the evening's highlight was Vitale's honoring of his special guests - Dungy, the former Bucs and Colts coach, and Tom Izzo, the Michigan State basketball coach, who was introduced by Magic Johnson.

Dungy, who has been involved in numerous charitable causes and an NBC broadcasting career since retiring from coaching following the 2008 NFL season, was attending his first Vitale Gala. He said he was amazed by the generosity.

"We all have so much respect for Coach (Jim) Valvano (the late N.C. State basketball coach who died of bone cancer in 1993, when the V Foundation was formed)," Dungy said. "How can you not be moved by all of this? Especially when you think of the kids who are stricken by this disease. We all have to do whatever we can to fight this.

"We always read and hear about the negative stories. That generates the attention. But fantastic things are happening all the time - maybe not to the magnitude of what Dick Vitale is doing - but people are fighting this. I just want to do my part, whatever I can do."

Dungy already has been an inspiration, according to Izzo.

Michigan State's basketball program has often been compared to a football atmosphere because of its aggressive approach. Izzo is a huge football fan - and a huge Dungy fan.

"He's a Super Bowl-winning coach and that makes a big impact right there, but it seems like Tony has taken it to a different level, even after he stepped away from the game," Izzo said. "When things aren't going well, one of my assistants (Mike Garland) always takes some quotes from one of Tony's books - Dungy-isms, I guess you'd call them - and there's always some value in them.

"This is a guy who has done it the right way. He keeps inspiring people. He has a wonderful platform and uses it in the right way."

Dungy said he "doesn't have the itch" to return to coaching. He said the weekend NBC job has helped fill the void. "It's like a team there, too, and it's like preparing for a game each week," he said. Meanwhile, Dungy said he really enjoyed being a full-time dad last fall, when his son, Eric, played his senior football season at Plant High School.

"Life is good," Dungy said. "I am busy, almost too busy. I don't think I've been fishing once (since retiring as a coach) and that's not good. But I have no complaints about how things are going. I get to contribute to a lot of causes, including a great evening like this one."

Vitale, the omnipresent ESPN announcer, reiterated his passion for the cause of curing cancer. He introduced All-American Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich, who missed last season while battling cancer, but plans to play this fall. Then Vitale turned to 12-year-old Jake Olson, a California boy who is blind after battling a rare form of eye cancer. He has since been "adopted" by the USC football team.

"I mean, Mark Herzlich, the courage he is showing and a kid like Jake Olson, who is unfairly robbed of his sight ... we've got to keep fighting, we've got to keep doing what we can," said Vitale, his voice breaking.

"I thought Dick was a very passionate man when I met him as a college basketball coach years ago," Dungy said. "But I think he has found his calling now. What he's doing is absolutely great. I am definitely inspired."

Reporter Joey Johnston

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