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The scene is iconic.
It was the 1983 NCAA national championship game between North Carolina State and Houston University. It was a shock that the Wolfpack, coached by the late Jim Valvano, were even in the championship game, and it would be considered a bigger shock if they were able to upset the “Phi Slamma Jamma,” with future Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.
Yet, on a last second put-back, NC State pulled off the upset, and Valvano carved his legacy into college basketball history.
Flash to the sidelines and you find a jubilant Jimmy V, running up and down the court, looking for someone to hug.
That basketball legacy wasn’t enough for the Queens, New York native. After an extremely successful coaching and broadcasting career, Valvano’s life was cut short by cancer. In June 1992, he was diagnosed with bone cancer.
A month later, he found out it had metastasized. Valvano made it one of his final missions to educate people on the disease, raise awareness for research and hopefully inspire a few people along the way.
Just two months before his passing, Valvano was awarded with the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award at the inaugural ESPYs. In addition to giving one of the most inspirational and influencing speeches ever recorded, Valvano announced the creation of the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Although Jimmy V passed 17 years ago, his legacy lives on through his foundation and the support of the entire basketball community. This week is the annual Jimmy V week, where ESPN promotes the foundation and research for a cure of cancer.
The foundation has raised more than $100 million since its creation.
If you haven’t heard the speech, you could either take 10 seconds and scour the Internet, or you can tune in Tuesday night when the University of Kansas squares off with the University of Memphis and Michigan State University faces Syracuse University at Madison Square Garden. At the contests between two of the nation’s top teams, Jimmy V’s speech will resonate through the world’s most famous arena, and nearly two decades after his passing, Jimmy V lives on.
