================================================================================ Chapter 2 Date: November 11th Tuesday Veterans day Year: 2025 It’s A Diaper Dandy, Baby! There I was, the year 1980, in the gym full of basketball campers,at the Hoosier Basketball Camp,screaming at kids running up and down the basketball court, “He’s a Diaper Dandy,Baby”. The campers were going crazy with excitement being called, 'Diaper Dandies’. It was a trigger that added more fun to an already fun summertime job. It really should not have been classified as work. I got paid for six weeks of the summer to teach, coach and play basketball. As a full-time camp counselor, each week we would be assigned to coach and referee teams made up of young kids, whose parents had paid good money to send their child away from home for an entire week just to play and learn the game of basketball. Every Summer, over a thousand aspiring young athletes would leave the safety and comforts of home to attend a week of basketball at the Hoosier Basketball Camp. We shoved all the basketball possible into a program from dawn to dusk. Along with … … … …, daily competitive games with scores were included. While running up and down the court, blowing the referee's whistle, simultaneously tossing in a few coaching instructions, we often also began to act as the game broadcast commentator. The play-by-play remarks would increase the intensity of games and the kids loved being called a “Diaper Dandy, Babies”. The unique phrase ‘Diaper Dandy, Baby' had been, at that time, made famous to the youth of America's basketball enthusiasts by Dick John Vitale, the college basketball coach who became an announcer on the new national cable TV network ESPN. Dick Vitale, also known as "Dickie V," is still, in 2025, an American basketball sportscaster known for his enthusiastic and passionate commentary, primarily covering college basketball for ESPN. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2008. After 45 years of broadcasting hoops, he ain’t a ‘Diaper Dandy’, but he is a living legend. Vitale's sports career first began in coaching. He was a successful high school coach, leading his teams to two New Jersey state championships. He then served as an assistant coach at Rutgers and became the head coach at the University of Detroit, where he had a collegiate record of 79–29 and led the Titans to the NCAA tournament in 1977. In 1978, he became the head coach of the NBA's Detroit Pistons, a position he held for less than two seasons. Coach Dickie V got fired. Like every fired unemployed basketball coach, the quest for the next coaching job creates personal and family challenges. The Vitale family faced theirs. With his wife Loraine’s insistances and encouragement, Coach Vitale became announcer Vitale. Loraine was happy because Dickie brought home a bigger check. The family challenges were decreased and Dick felt as if he was back in the game. He joined the newly launched ESPN cable network in 1979 and called the network's first-ever major NCAA basketball game on December 5, 1979. He has since broadcast well over a thousand games. Who’s counting. [He has also worked as a college basketball analyst for ABC Sports since 1988, and covered events like the NBA Finals and the 1992 Summer.] Just a few days ago, I listened to Dickie V broadcast a college basketball game between Duke and Kansas. He was sitting courtside spouting his numerous opinions, phrases, and commentary during the 2025 ‘V Foundation’ season basketball tournament kickoff. During the broadcast Coach Vitale advertised many of the foundation's events and the great Sarasota ‘V Foundation’ galla. This broadcast got me thinking … … … … ! Years ago, Coach Vitale started the ‘V Foundation’ to help fight cancer in the honor of his good friend Jimmy Valvano, who died unexpectedly at the young age of 47, in 1993, from terminal cancer. A long time ago, Coach Jimmy Valvano slapped me hard in the ass, just like someone might slap a horse to get it running faster. I didn’t think much of it at the time when it occurred and I continued playing. I had previously been slapped in the gluteus maximus by many other coaches: Bob Knight,Dean Smith,Bill Guthridge,Bill Freder,Lynn Archibald, Rick Majerus, Don Haskins, Jerry Pimm, and many other coaches. But I realized something was strange about Jimmy Valvano’s slap! As Jimmy helped pick me up from the basketball court after I had dove for a loose ball crashing into his team's bench and chairs during a NCAA tournament college game. Jimmy was smiling and encouraging my play. I formed my epiphany quickly into a verbal response to Jimmy. I said,”Hey, aren’t you the coach of the other team”. It was not normal to have the opposing team’s coach encouraging you to play better. Jimmy Valvano,that’s what was unusual, Coach Jimmy Valvano was the coach of the opposing team, The North Carolina State Wolfpack I was playing for another team, The University of Utah, Running Utes. We were beaten in that game. I was dejected for days and did not think much about the Coach ‘V’ in game courtside slap occurrence. But years later, that strange gesture of encouragement and slap on the butt would take on a different and significant meaning to me. Weeks later, that slap gained significance. Jimmy Valvano would coach The NC Wolfpack to a NCAA Basketball National Championship. His team beat the odds, winning in the Pit of New Mexico,a place I knew well, against a star studded team, Houston, who had beaten my team earlier in the season. Years later, in 1993, that slap from Coach Valvano would take on more significance, as Jimmy Valvano died of a terminal disease. And, only a few years after Jimmy’s death, it would take on even more significance in my life as my five year old daughter died of a terminal incurable disease. The slap in the ass meant encouragement to me as I dealt 5 years with a child born with a life ending disease. I would tell myself often, don’t give up. But In the end,in 1995, … … well that’s a long story … … … … . It did, however, provide the philosophy to fight for as many days as possible for the life of my child. The slap on the ass and phrase Jimmy made famous while fighting for just a few more days of life now have very personal significance to me. “Don't Give Up, Don’t EVER give up”! This personal meaning is one understood and shared by Dick John Vitale and members of his family. It provides all the reason and wisdom behind the Dickie ‘V Foundation’. It’s the philosophy of the foundation. The V-Foundation was created by Coach Vitale in the dying wish of his good friend Coach Valvano. They both loved basketball. They both loved life. They both spread the don’t give up message to millions of people. I got that message long ago and I now have a few simple ideas that can help spread it to more kids in need of encouragement. Coach Dick Vitale is a survivor of cancer, Jammie Vitale (*name?), the coach's daughter is also a survivor of cancer. The ‘V Foundation’ has raised approximately 60 million dollars in the fight against cancer. It has provided many people with just a few more days of life. My idea is not about more money, it’s about more smiles. (See: Robin Williams film “Hatch”). This ideas, Fat Hats for Kids, this “SMILE” just might be like a slap on the ass from Coach Jimmy Valvano that last a lifetime and effect many people. By the grace of the Almighty God,I have been blessed with a reasonably healthy life to this day. Most of my bodily injuries were self-inflicted due to playing the contact sport of basketball professionally internationally into my 30’s. At the ripe age of 64, I have an idea, a project, a contribution of action, … … … a small way to contribute. But it may have a profound outcome. I ask myself, and I present in this writing, would Coach Vitale and the ‘V Foundation’ be interested in hearing my ideas regarding, fighting terminal disease, fighting to live, and never giving up, THIS IS MY REQUEST. Hear me out, then, tell me exactly what you think. That’s my request at this time, just some of your time and your thoughts. My idea is simple, it’s all about putting a smile on a child’s face as he/she is under treatment for terminal disease, cancer … … FAT HATS 4 Kids. … … … this project doesn’t need your money, it just needs a few minutes of your time and perhaps down the road a few autographs, … … but I know a few minutes of your time would be valuable … …. and greatly appreciated. We are almost neighbors, I live in Saint Pete … … we can talk at your favorite cafe in Lakewood Ranch, I could taxi you home from the airport after one of your trips, I know all area airports well, …we could meet at the Ritz Carlton Hotel by the Piano, I would play you “God Bless The Child” written & sung by Billie Holiday. lets talk, hope to hear from you soon. Christopher Lee Winans Chris / email: [email protected] Phone: (727)947-0067 /seldom answer, leave message, I will call right back ,