Athletes - Jim Valvano

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	Athletes - Jim Valvano

James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 - April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball coach. While the head coach at North Carolina State University, he won the 1983 NCAA National Championship. One of the more iconic moments in college basketball history is Valvano running up and down the court after the championship game, seemingly in disbelief and looking for someone to hug.

Coaching Career

Valvano's 19 year career as a head basketball coach included stops at Johns Hopkins, Bucknell, Iona, and North Carolina State. He had a career record of 346-212. Valvano was twice voted ACC coach of the year. In addition to his coaching duties, he became NC State's athletics director in 1986. In 1990, allegations of point shaving and other NCAA rules violations, brought to light in the book Personal Fouls by Peter Golenbock, led to his resignation. An NCAA inquiry into the scandal found only that players had illegally sold shoes and game tickets. As a result, the basketball program was placed on probation for two years and banned from participating in the 1990 NCAA tournament. The story can be found in his 1991 autobiography, Valvano: They Gave Me a Lifetime Contract, and Then They Declared Me Dead.

Broadcasting

After his coaching career, Valvano became a popular broadcaster for ESPN and ABC. In 1992, he won a Cable ACE Award for Commentator/Analyst for NCAA Basketball broadcasts.

ESPY Speech

Shortly before his death, he spoke at the inaugural ESPY Awards, presented by ESPN, on March 4, 1993. While accepting the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award, he announced the creation of the "V Foundation", an organization dedicated to finding a cure for cancer. He announced that the foundation's motto would be "Don't give up. Don't ever give up." His speech has become legendary, and he closed the speech by saying, "Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever. I thank you and God bless you all." One thing Valvano also said in the speech that many remember most are the following words:

"To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

Valvano received a lengthy standing ovation. Unfortunately, he would die less than two months later.

Death

Valvano died at the age of 47 after a yearlong battle with cancer (metastatic adenocarcinoma).

Legacy

A 1996 TV-movie titled Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story, starred Anthony LaPaglia as Valvano.

V Foundation

In 1993, Valvano, along with ESPN, founded the V Foundation for Cancer Research. The foundation raises money to fund cancer research. The Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic is held every year in August at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, North Carolina. Every year, four men's college basketball teams compete in the "Jimmy V Basketball Classic". Recently, a women's game was added to the line-up of the Classic. With each telecast of the event, ESPN plays videos of Valvano's life, basketball career, and ESPYs speech.

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