Flashback: Jim Valvano’s inspiring speech
By Andy Denton on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 2:37 pm
Can you believe it’s been over 13 years since Jim Valvano’s untimely death? For those of you who don’t know, Jim Valvano was a well known and respected college basketball coach. He was most known for leading NC State to the national title in 1983. After his retirement from coaching, he became an incredible sportscaster. He, teamed with Dick Vitale, made for some of the best color commentary during a basketball game. (I even remember Jim and Dick appearing on an episode of the Cosby Show.)
As I was peering in my “blog this” file, I realized that these Jim Valvano videos have been stuck at the bottom of my list for sometime now. Nothing against Jim. But, a while ago I made a pretty hefty list of inspirational video’s I found sprinkled across the internet YouTube. As I began blogging about them, I didn’t want to overload everyone on video after video. So, I have tried to space them out. (sprinkle in a little real estate here, a little photo show there, some cool website announcements… You get the idea!).
As Jim battled cancer, he attended the 1993 ESPY show to accept a lifetime acheivement award for his coaching and broadcasting career. This is where he made the famous “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up” speech. It’s truly one of the most touching speeches ever. Not only because he was so loved, but because he was losing his battle with cancer, and everyone in the room knew it. Less than two months after accepting this award and leaving us all with his beautiful words of encouragment, Jim passed away at the age of 47.
Time is very precious to me. I don’t know how much I have left. And I have some things that I would like to say…
How do you get through life? Each day it’s the same thing… #1 is laugh. You should laugh every day. #2 is think. You should spend some time in thought. #3 you should have your emotions moved to tears….But think about it, if you laugh, you think, you cry - that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day…Enjoy your life - the precious moments you have…
(Quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson) - “Nothing great can be accomplished without enthusiasm”…
Keep your dreams alive in spite of problems, whatever you have. Now, I look at where I am now and I know what I want to do. What I would like to be able to do is spend whatever time I have left, and to give maybe some hope to others.
…the idea of hope - don’t ever quit. Don’t EVER give up!
…Never stop believing and loving in eachother, and you can accomplish miracles.
Cancer has taken away a lot of my physical abilities…What cancer cannot touch is my mind, my heart, and my soul.
I have hope in God that things might get better for me.…With hope, and faith, and belief, and what hard work and coaching can do.
Related Posts
Category: Christian, Inspiration, Sports, Video
- Share this post:
- Del.icio.us -
- Digg -
- Ma.gnolia -
- StumbleUpon
Comment from Jarod Jacobs
Posted on Saturday, 24 March 2007 at 2:45 pm
If I can, but why bother, stop crying!
