Vitale b-ball rally motivates students

Sportscaster tellsSportscaster tellsaudience to 'makeSportscaster tellsaudience to 'makegood' in their lives He has called college basketball games from New York to Los Angeles -- but never before has Dick Vitale made a visit to the Palestra. In front of an enthusiastic crowd of about 2,000 students, the man known as "Dickie V" revved up the University for the upcoming basketball season and shared the folk wisdom he has picked up over the years. After introducing the men's and women's basketball teams with the help of a spotlight, Vitale then led the teams through a series of lay-up drills, teasing the players about being able to "shoot the rock." The introduction culminated in a three-point shooting contest between women's basketball team member Colleen Kelly, a College junior, and men's team member Matt Langel, a Wharton freshman. Langel came out the victor, making nine treys in 45 seconds as compared to Kelly's six. While the subject of Vitale's speech had been billed as gender equity, he mostly focused on the road he had taken to success and attempted to inspire the crowd to "make good" in life. The hour-long speech was sprinkled with stories about his own experiences. "I've tried to live a dream," Vitale said in his opening remarks. "My dream has been very simple -- to do whatever I do with energy and excitement." He reminded the crowd that everyone in attendance, by virtue of attending Penn, was a "bona-fide high achiever." And Vitale evoked memories from his childhood when he spoke about learning that "in America, if you do your best and have dreams and goals, you will succeed." By his own account, Vitale seems to be living proof of his adage. Working as a sixth-grade teacher in the 1960s and coaching high school basketball, Vitale said, he never believed that his dream of coaching at the collegiate level would come true. But when he was hired by Rutgers University as its men's basketball assistant coach in the early 1970s, he began to see how he could shape a team into a winning one, leading the team to the NCAA Final Four in 1976. "When you do something you love, the best happens," he said. Vitale drew cheers from the crowd when he reminisced about the Quakers' December 1994 victory over a heavily favored Michigan team. Vitale was an ESPN commentator for the game. "[Coach Fran] Dunphy gets an E for effort, an A for attitude and a T for toughness," Vitale remarked as he commended the coach and the team for their performance that evening. Vitale reminded the crowd that self-esteem and self-confidence can have either a positive or detrimental effect on achievement. "If you think you're mediocre, you're mediocre," he said. "If you think you're special, you're special." And his motivational tone seemed well-received by the audience. "The speech was very inspiring," Wharton sophomore Jamarr Delauney said. "He made me realize my problems aren't as bad as I think."

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