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Matt Fitzsimmons
Hall
English 1102-O
8 February 2014
Jim Valvano: A Courageous Man
Jim Valvano may not be known by the average American citizen in today’s world
of 2014. However, many, many people know him for for his incredible life story and that
journey that he embarked on in his short 47 years on this earth. What he left behind is
still widely talked about and cherished between people through all walks of life. What
Jim Valvano did on this earth was nothing short of remarkable, and his achievement
posthumously of his dream and goals are something that has been such a blessing to people
all over the nation.
James Thomas Anthony(Jim) Valvano was born to Rocco and Angelina in Queens,
New York in 1946. The Valvano’s come from a very rich Italian background that is very
prevalent in their complexion and their mannerism. Jim was a very good athlete, lettering
in three varsity sports in his high school of Seafort High School, located in Long Island.
Accepting a basketball scholarship to Rutgers after high school fulfilled a life long dream
of playing collegiate basketball for Jim. After a solid college playing career, which he
earned senior athlete of the year in 1967, Jim knew he wanted to be a coach, and
immediately accepted the position to coach the Rutgers freshman team, and to be an
assistant on the varsity team. He then moved on to pursue his dream as a head coach, with
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short stints at Johns Hopkins, back to being an assistant at Connecticut, and then to being a
head coach again with Bucknell, Iona, and finally with North Carolina State. Jim had an
illustrious career and found success at nearly every stop he made. He finished with a
career winning percentage of .622% (346-210). In ten years at North Carolina State, he
led the Wolfpack to an 209-114 record, ACC champions in 1985, and 1989, ACC
tournament champions in 1983 and 1987, and winning and a National Championship
(1983). Jim was always known for his amazing relationship with his players. He
genuinely cared about him and there has been multiple quotes of his players speaking
towards their love for their coach. He wanted to make sure his players knew he cared for
them and in return they would play their hearts out for their coach. This was a familiar
characteristic of his teams.
Jim married his high school love, Pamela Levine, and together they had three
children. He worked as a ESPN commentator following his retirement from coaching. He
also went around the country as a motivational speaker relaying his message and life story
to others.
Jim Valvano was also a National Championship winning basketball coach. His
lone National Championship came in a somewhat of a miracle season in 1983. They
entered the NCAA postseason tournament as a six (6) seed in the tournament. No team
higher than a four had ever won the tournament for the crown of national championship.
Almost every game they played in the postseason was a tight contest that was a nail biter
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and wildly entertaining. The team of 1983 took the attitude and aura of their head coach in
their national championship run. Sparky, full of confidence and having a fun time playing
basketball made the North Carolina State University basketball team of 1983 an easy team
to pull for. They picked up the major national attention and were gaining steam heading
into the sweet sixteen (third round) of the tournament. They came out of nowhere and all
of a sudden took their ACC tournament championship into the NCAA tournament and
were full of confidence. They ended up winning the national championship against top
ranked Houston who was heavily favored with future NBA greats, Hakeem Olajuwon and
Clyde Drexler. The scene of coach Jim Valvano celebrating frantically after their last
second shot went in to uplift them past Houston, running around looking for someone to
hug and celebrate with is one that is long remembered in sports history. That scene is
actually one of the most played in conversations mentioning amazing upsets and teams of
destiny.
During coach Valvano’s famous ESPY speech, he spoke of another speech he gave,
his very first one as a college basketball coach. He was going to reenact the scene from his
coaching idol, Vince Lombardi’s first speech with his team, the Green Bay Packers of the
NFL. Well as the story goes, Mr. Vince Lombardi didn’t go in to speak to his team until
there was only three minutes to go until they had to report to the field. This is unusual for
coaches. He slammed the doors open and demanded his teams attention. He told them
that they would be a successful team if they focused on three things that season; “Your
family, your religion, and the Green Bay Packers!” and thus causing the locker room to
erupt and storm to the field. Coach Valvano took the same thing and applied it to his
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freshman team at Rutgers. He proclaimed that he practiced his speech, over and over to
himself. Your family, your religion and Rutgers basketball. So when the time came for
their very first game he waited until the team manager said they had about three minutes to
hit the floor. Valvano hit the door to slam it open, and it didn’t open. He in fact knocked
himself down and injured his arm. He got helped up and got into the locker room and
looked his young freshman in the eyes. He told them, “We will be successful this year if
you focus on three things, your family, your religion, and the GREEN BAY PACKERS!!!”
While Mr. Valvano shared this story at the ESPYs during his speech it received an chorus
of laughter and makes people chuckle to this day. During his famous speech he used this
speech, his first ever to show what kind of a person he is. One who makes mistakes, like
all humans do of course, but gives it his best effort always, and always has his heart in the
right place.
The ESPY’s speech that is so famously looked back upon was given in 1993.
Some 21 years ago no one really knew what greatness was about to be witnessed. It was
known that Jim Valvano was the recipient of the inaugural Arthur Ashe award, and he
would presumably give a few words of thanks and possibly more but no one could be sure.
He was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer for some time, and looking back and
reflecting on that, it is quite amazing how he managed to stand up and give an eleven
minute speech. Cancer was deteriorating his body by the second and he had be struggling
to stay on his feet without aid, but there he was, standing and delivering one of the greatest
speeches of his time. In his speech he spoke to a known fact, that he was deep in a battle
with cancer and it didn’t look so good. The message of his speech was to never give up
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hope. To always fight and to never give up. He lived this out until his dying day. “And its
motto is “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” That’s what I’m going to try to do every
minute that I have left. I will thank God for the day and the moment I have.”(Valvano 1).
His message was so much more than a personal testament. He urged others to not take
their life for granted and to spend them with enthusiasm and chasing after their dreams and
goals, and to spend and cherish it with the people who matter the most. This might have
been the biggest takeaway from maybe the most personally gut wrenching speech of its
kind. Valvano said, “I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your
life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some
thought, to get your emotions going.” This hits home for so many. To get in touch with
you emotions and to have productive days, not just buy worldly standards. To accomplish
something worthwhile and to experience things with loved ones is what he is talking about.
To use what the Lord gave us to our best abilities and to help others.
Perhaps his most powerful message was when Jim Valvano dropped this on the
crowd, “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. 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.” That in itself could be analyzed as a whole of the
speech. Valvano saw a bigger picture to life then what got people to recognize his name
for as a basketball coach. He wanted people to understand that he was going through a
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serious trial in his life with his fight with cancer and wanted people to realize that he didn’t
let that get in his way. To think, laugh, and cry everyday is a full day. It is a heck of a day
actually. Incorporating this into ones life is not something you can simply do. It is a way
of life that requires some effort and purpose for oneself. Jim Valvano was faced with the
ultimate death sentence and yet still managed to have a positive outlook on life. He truly
meant all those words he spoke and lived them out. He wanted, and still wants a better
world full of laughter, thought and tears of happiness. A world like that is a better place.
Jim Valvano wanted peoples quality of life to improve, by hearing the words from him, a
man riddled by a disease soon to kill him, speak of joyous things.
Jim Valvano, it goes without needing to be said, was a brave human being. He
took on a fight that was unfair to him, and it might of look like he lost, someday when the
cure to cancer is found, due to his foundations research it will be a mighty win for Jim
Valvano. His speech at the 1993 ESPYs is one that will be played over and over again and
will not soon be forgotten. Jim Valvano is someone who was on the display for his actions
and showed the world how to deal with something that was so overbearing to him with a
smile on his face. How did he do it? He laughed, he thought, and he cried.
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Works Cited
Valvano, Jim. "About Us." The V Foundation for Cancer Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb.
2014.