INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana's rich history of basketball will collide with the spectacle of racing this May when sportscaster Dick Vitale leads the IPL 500 Festival Parade.

Vitale was announced as grand marshal on Tuesday for the 2009 parade, themed "Laps, Legends & Legacy: Honoring the 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway."

"I am absolutely flattered and really thrilled to be honored in this way,” Vitale said in a news release. "The Indy 500 is one of the greatest sporting weekends and to be grand marshal will be an incredible treat. My entire family is really looking forward to it."

Vitale is best known as a color commentator and college basketball analyst for ESPN, joining the network in 1979.

Before that, the New Jersey-born Vitale fostered his Midwest roots, coaching the University of Detroit and later the Detroit Pistons. He was inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

"We like to recognize people for their body of work and Dick certainly has a long, successful and storied career that has touched many people," said 500 Festival President and CEO Kirk Hendrix. "It is fitting for someone who is known for being colorful, enthusiastic, passionate and having great influence in the sports community to be a part of our cherished parade, particularly knowing that our entire state embraces the sport of basketball that he so passionately promotes."

The parade will be held on May 23 with more than 300,000 spectators expected to line the two-mile route to get a glimpse of Vitale, the 33 starting drivers and more than 80 specialty units, floats, marching bands and entertainment groups, giant inflatable balloons and costumed characters.