'Air Bud' creator faces health decline, homelessness: 'We're almost having to start over'

Watch Dan Plante's report for KUSI on Kevin DiCicco and his story in the player above.

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Kevin DiCicco never thought he would end up effectively homeless. The San Diego native had been the driving force behind the wildly popular Walt Disney Studios' film, "Air Bud" and its more than a dozen spin-offs.

DiCicco helped shape the childhoods of a whole generation, inspired by videos of his dog playing basketball that went "viral" before the concept of "viral videos" existed — it was on CNN, ESPN, David Letterman's "Stupid Pet Tricks," "America's Funniest Home Video."

"I know especially down in [Pacific Beach], you know you see kids that were glued to the set, watched that film a hundred times, are now twenty-somethings," DiCicco said of the film franchise. "It was always nice to run into them and see how much they enjoy it."

And yet, the "Air Bud" creator's life has become one of adversity, slipping into homelessness while battling multiple conditions that have severely deteriorated his health and sunk him deep into medical debt.