"Don't give up, don't ever give up"

James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946–April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball coach. While the head coach at North Carolina State University, he won the 1983 NCAA Basketball Tournament against high odds. Valvano is remembered for running up and down the court after winning the 1983 NCAA championship, seemingly in disbelief and looking for someone to hug. He is also remembered for his 1993 ESPY Awards speech, given shortly before he died of cancer.

Valvano was diagnosed with bone cancer in June 1992. In July, he found out that it had metastasized. Shortly before his death, he spoke at the inaugural ESPY Awards, presented by ESPN, on March 3, 1993.

While accepting the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award, he announced the creation of the "V Foundation", an organization dedicated to finding a cure for cancer. He announced that the foundation's motto would be "Don't give up. Don't ever give up." During his speech the teleprompter stated that he had 30 seconds left, to which Valvano responded, "They got that screen up there flashing 30 seconds, like I care about that screen. I got tumors all over my body and I'm worried about some guy in the back going 30 seconds." His speech has become legendary, and he closed the speech by saying, "Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. 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. I thank you and God bless you all."

One particularly poignant section of Valvano's speech is as follows:

"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. And 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."

For the full transcription and video of the speech, click HERE

Read more about Jimmy V HERE