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Who is Jim Valvano?

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Jim Valvano's Legacy Lives On: He Never Gave Up!

The two things that people remember Jimmy Valvano for are both triumphs. The first is after his North Carolina State Wolfpack won the NCAA basketball championship at the last minute when Lorenzo Charles' dunk at the buzzer off a high, arching air ball from 30 feet out by Dereck Whittenburg provided the final margin. Charles made the air ball look like a play.

The image of Valvano running through the excited mob of players looking for someone to hug is unforgettable.

The second triumph, 10 years later, was shortly before his death after a long fight with cancer. Valvano gave one of the most memorable speeches in sports' history when he received an ESPY award. He talked about his truimphs and challenges and urged everyone to "never give up", something that Valvano himself never did.

Contents at a Glance

That Wonderful Moment of NCAA Victory 19...
Three Reasons to Love Jim Valvano
Jimmy V After the Championship With a Pr...
The Jim Valvano ESPY Speech
Jimmy V From the Old Neighborhood

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That Wonderful Moment of NCAA Victory 1983

Three Reasons to Love Jim Valvano

1. Jimmy Valvano lead a Cinderella NCSU team to victory over Huston in the 1983 NCAA basketball championships. He then showed his vulnerability by wildly searching for someone to hug.

2. Jimmy Valvano fought a courageous battle against cancer. He never gave this fight up in life and fights it even after his death with his Jimmy V Foundation.

3. Jimmy Valvano faced a crisis in his job at NCSU and went on to redeem himself and his team.

Pictured here, Valvano hugs Kay Yow, the NCSU iconoclastic women's basketball coach. At the time they did not know that both would struggle with cancer and start cancer research foundations. While Valvano died in 1993, Yow has survived three bouts of cancer.

Jimmy V After the Championship With a Prophetic Statment

If you can't watch the entire video at least watch the first minute and a half. You will see the amazing last shot and victory. You will see Jimmy Valvano running frantically trying to find someone to hug.

And you will hear him talk about how they never gave up. They didn't give up during the season; they didn't give up during the game. This was something he also said 10 years later, just before his death, about his fight with cancer. He never gave up and he didn't want anyone to ever give up.

The Jim Valvano ESPY Speech

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Jimmy V From the Old Neighborhood

Thanks to Lensmaster Violin Student, We Know Jimmy of Old!

"I lived several blocks from Jimmy Valvano in Seaford, NY. Jimmy was about eight years older than I, but I still knew who he was. I can't ever remember him talking down to me or being anything but encouraging. His father, Rocco, was involved with Seaford sports from the time I remember until I graduated in 1972 in official and unofficial capacities. I never met a man who could tell you as much about basketball as Rocco. When it came to rules, Rocco was the authority. If Rocco had ever differed from what I saw printed on the page regarding rules (which NEVER happened), I would have believed Rocco and thrown the book into the trash. Bobby is Jimmy's younger brother. He graduated from Seaford along with my sisters. Bobby was a heck of an athlete as well. Inspiring family. It was a privilege to have known all three men."
Art Haule

The Full ESPY Awards Speach: A Must For All

No Life Is Perfect And Jim Valvano Had Disappointments. He Still Never Gave Up

"In 1990, accusations of rules violations surfaced in the book Personal Fouls by Peter Golenbock. Two local newspapers and the NC State student paper called for his ouster. A 1989 NCAA investigation cleared Valvano, but found that players sold shoes and game tickets. As a result, NC State placed its basketball program on probation for two years (the maximum) and was banned from participating in the 1990 NCAA tournament. The state-appointed Poole Commission issued a 32-page report that concluded that there were no major violations of NCAA regulations, and that Valvano and his staff's inadequate oversight of players' academic progress violated "the spirit, not the letter of the law." After this report, Valvano was forced to resign as the school's athletic director in October 1989. He remained as basketball coach through the 1989-1990 season. Under subsequent pressure from the school's faculty and new Chancellor, Valvano negotiated a settlement with NC State and resigned as basketball coach on April 7, 1990. Six separate entities investigated Valvano and the NC State basketball program including the NC State Faculty Senate, the North Carolina Attorney General, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, the NC State Board of Trustees, and the NCAA. None of them found any academic, recruiting, or financial improprieties.

Valvano's version of these events can be found in his 1991 autobiography, Valvano: They Gave Me a Lifetime Contract, and Then They Declared Me Dead."

from Wiki

Jim Valvano Spars With David Letterman

Jim also appeared on the Cosby Show with Dick Vitale. The two of the played movers when Cosby broke his wife's Grandfather clock!

Jim Valvano Speech At Reynolds Colisium

The starts by saying that he is "at a loss for words' and got a big laugh as everyone knew that that was never true!

Jim Valvano Fights Cancer

Just before his death Sports Illustrated made this cover story.

He entered the Arena with his wife on his arm and a container of holy water from Lourdes in his black leather bag. His back and hips and knees ached. That was the disease, they told him. His ears rang and his stomach turned and his hands and feet were dead. That, they said, was the cure. Each step he took brought a rattle from his bag. Twenty-four tablets of Advil were usually enough to get him through the day.

He braced himself. No doubt someone would approach him this evening, pump his hand and say it. Strangers were always writing it or saying it to him: "We're pulling for you, Vee. You can do it. Nobody thought you had a prayer against Houston in that national championship game in '83, and you pulled that off, right? Keep fighting, Vee. You can do it again."

No. Not in the same breath. Not in the same sentence, not in the same paragraph, not in the same magazine or book could the two be uttered: a basketball opponent and a cancer eating its way through the marrow and bone of his spine. A basketball opponent and death. No. In their fear of dying, people didn't make it larger than it was. They shrank it, they trivialized it. Vee versus metastatic adenocarcinoma. Vee versus Phi Slamma Jamma. Go get 'em, baby. Shock the world, Vee.

No. No correlation, baby, he longed to tell them sometimes. None.

The cameras, the reporters, the microphones awaited him inside the Civic Center in Tallahassee. A brand-new season. Iowa State at Florida State, 46-year-old Jimmy Valvano's first game back as an ESPN college basketball analyst since he had learned last summer that he most likely had a year to live."

When Jim Valvano said he wasn't giving up, this is what he was talking about. You can read the rest of this story by following the link.

Jimmy Valvano's Family

"Valvano was the middle child of Rocco and Angelina Valvano, and was married for 25 years to his high school sweetheart, Pamela Levine. They have three daughters: Nicole, Jamie, and Lee Ann. Valvano attended Seaford High School on Long Island, New York."

His middle daughter, Jamie, had her own battle with breast cancer in 2005. Her uncle stated that her father's death may have been one of the reasons that she was so steady with her exams.

The Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research

The Jimmy V Foundation is Jim Valvano's way to keep fighting even after he lost his personal battle with cancer.

The foundation holds many fund raising events which include a college basketball tournament and a celebrity gold tournament.

Go to the link above and learn more. Don't forget to donate something. You will be fighting to save a life.

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Quick, what do you think of Jim Valvano?

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Shout Out For Jim Valvano and His Courage!

Share your stories, sightings, thoughts, rants, raves...

Reply

Tipi Jan 28, 2012 @ 4:19 pm | delete

Returning to bless this inspirational tribute to Jim Valvano....his light still shines!

Reply

akumar46 Apr 22, 2011 @ 7:53 pm | delete

Great person Thanks.

Reply

Stonecutter Apr 22, 2011 @ 2:45 pm | delete

This is an individual who epitomizes what it means to hold on and stand up for your truth. Even when the odds are against you, hold on to your truth.

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JoanneOtt Apr 22, 2011 @ 2:09 pm | delete

He sounds like a great man. Cancer is a terrible thing. His legacy will live on.

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jvsper63 Apr 22, 2011 @ 6:15 am | delete

That was a sad story, and a lovely tribute. it's something how life works, his cancer, the daughter wouldn't have gotten regular breast exams, if not for him. That will make the difference in being able to fight or not.

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sandyspider Dec 15, 2010 @ 4:37 pm | delete

Great tribute to Jim Valvano.

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Tipi Dec 11, 2010 @ 10:01 am | delete

The thing about Jim Valvano is that he was an overcomer in life. He had his human set backs but through it all, he shined a brighter light to us all. Beautifully done Margo!