I received a number of responses to yesterday's article about Jack Buck's humble beginning as a sports broadcaster, reminding me that Dick Vitale broadcast his first ESPN game on DePaul's Lincoln Park campus on December 5, 1979. The Blue Demons defeated the Wisconsin Badgers, 90-77 in the historic game.
A Feb. 12, 2009, Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel article written by Bob Wolfley chronicles Vitale's initial foray into broadcasting. Read the article and see some video from that first game, Click here.
It wasn't Vitale's first intersection into Blue Demon basketball history. Several years earlier on December 27, 1975, the colorful commentator was head coach for Detroit when the Blue Demons came to town. Vitale and his Titans battled a DePaul team led by sophomores Dave Corzine, Joe Ponsetto and Randy Ramsey.
As time wound down in a hard-fought Detroit 74-67 victory over Ray Meyer's men, a group of DePaul fans led by Randy Ramsey's mother Lorraine, proud of the Blue Demons efforts began the chant, "WE ARE DE-PAUL!" Mrs. Ramsey would make signs before the next game and the chant would become a staple for DePaul and many of its Catholic peers.
Special Thanks to Demon Tracks for its report of the game - Click Here
