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Jim Valvano gave one of the most memorable speeches at the ESPY’s on March 4, 1993. I recently heard a replay and immediately started scribbling down notes and quotes.
If you’re looking for encouragement and inspiration, you’ll find it in this synopsis of Jimmy V’s quotes I gathered from his memorable speech on ESPN.
Jim Valvano’s ESPY Speech
3 Things you should do every day:
- Laugh
- Think
- Cry (have your emotions be moved to tears)
If you do those 3 things every day, that’s a full life.
People asked how his life changed after getting diagnosed with cancer. He said he still did the same things, but time was just more precious.
He encouraged the audience to ponder three things:
- Where you started
- Where you are
- Where you’re going to be
He remembers where he came from. How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? You have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. You have to be willing to work for it.
Commitment to Excellence Speech
His idol as a coach was Vince Lombardi. He read his book, “Commitment to Excellence“. In that book, Lombardi talked about the first time he spoke before his Green Bay Packer team in the locker room.
Normally you get in the locker room 25-30 minutes before you take the field, go over plays, and give the great Newt Rockney quote (speech #84) to get your squad ready. But Lombardi went in the locker room that day just three minutes before his team was supposed to take the field.
He walked in, walked back and forth in front of the players, and said, “All eyes on me.”
Lombardi went on to say, “Gentlemen, we will be successful this year. We will focus on three things, and three things only:
- Your family
- Your religions
- and the Green Bay Packers
As a 21-year-old coaching 19-year-olds, Jimmy V thought this was going to make him the greatest coach in the world…the next Lombardi. But when he tried to do the same thing, he couldn’t even get the doors to open. (He almost broke his arm!)
He walked back and forth and finally delivered the speech (incorrectly), and realized it took more than a great speech to become a coach.
The Importance of Family
Family is so important
“I just have one last thing. I urge all of you to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter, some thought, and to get your emotions going. To be enthusiastic each and every day. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘Nothing great can ever be accomplished without enthusiasm’.”
“Keep your dreams alive..be able to work hard for your dreams to come true, to become a reality. What I would like to be able to do is to be able to spend whatever time I have left giving hope to others.”
Jim Valvano as a Basketball Coach and Player
Jim was diagnosed with cancer in 1992. He coached college basketball for almost twenty years and won two ACC titles with NC State, as well as the 1983 National Championship.
Valvano also played point guard for Rutgers from 1964-67. He was inducted into the Rutgers Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.
Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research
If you want to help the cause and the cure, go to V.org.Donate.
100% of all donations go to cancer research. In the US, an estimated 42 out of 100 men and 40 out of 100 women will develop cancer during their lifetime.
Since 1993, the V Foundation has funded nearly $400 million in research grants.
Try if you can to support so that someone else might survive, might propser, and might be cured of this dreaded disease.
“Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities, but 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.”
Jimmy V’s Motto
Don’t Give Up. Don’t Ever Give Up.
Jim Valvano passed away in April 1993, less than two months after this ESPY speech.
(All stats above were taken from the lower third of the screen from the re-airing of his famous speech during College GameDay).
