Vitale Reported in Good Condition After Car Accident

Dick Vitale, college basketball analyst for ESPN and ABC-TV, remained hospitalized in good condition Monday after suffering a broken nose and foot and facial fractures in an auto accident last Friday evening.

Vitale’s wife, Lorraine, 43, who was driving at the time of the accident, received about 20 stitches, but their daughters, ages 15 and 13, were uninjured. The family was returning to their Bradenton home from dinner when the accident occurred at about 9:35 p.m., Lorraine Vitale said.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a 17-year-old boy driving a small truck swerved to avoid hitting a car that had stopped to make a turn and his vehicle struck the Vitales’ car head on.

Vitale, 48, was in good spirits after his doctors told him that his facial bone fractures, just below his eyes, would heal themselves and would not require surgery. They had been concerned about the risk of surgery to the vision of Vitale, blind in his left eye from a childhood injury.