“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” Jimmy Valvano, 1993 – announcing the Jimmy V Foundation
December 1-7 is Jimmy V week on ESPN. You may not know who Jimmy Valvano was, but if you have had the misfortune of knowing someone afflicted with cancer, the odds are he and his life’s mission impacted your life.
Jimmy Valvano was a successful basketball coach, commentator, and author. He was a person of strong conviction and personal drive. At an early age he pulled out white index cards and began to write down his personal goals for life. He wanted to play high school and college basketball, he wanted to become an assistant coach, go on to become a head coach, cut down the nets in Madison Square Garden and win a National Championship. At age 36, he was able to pull out those cards and cross off every item on the list. Throughout his life he developed a personal philosophy which allowed an ordinary man to accomplish the extraordinary. He once commented, “There are 86,400 seconds in a day. It is up to you to decide what to do with them.” Jimmy V chose to cherish and make the most of each one.
After accomplishing his goals on the basketball court, he explored new directions from writing to commentating. He was not interested in limiting himself to a single profession. He embraced diversity in his life and his interests.
In 1993, Jimmy Valvano was given an obstacle that would prove to be his most difficult. He was diagnosed with cancer. The cancer proved to be too much for him to personally overcome, but through his vision and passion he has inspired and continues to inspire funding for education and research to cure cancer. At the time of his diagnosis, cancer was an underfunded and devastating disease. His charismatic and infectious attitude towards life and easy appeal to people made him an ideal person to raise the awareness of cancer and its impacts on our world and to raise arms to find a way to cure cancer. While no cure has been found, through continued research many forms of treatment have been developed. The Jimmy V Foundation has raised over $100 million over the past 18 years for cancer research and awareness.
Jimmy V is an inspiring person. His attitude towards life, even in the face of overwhelming obstacles is something to admire.
The URL below is a video clip from the 1993 ESPY awards when he received the Arthur Ashe award for Courage. During his speech he announces the Jimmy V Foundation.
The URL below is the highlights from the 1983 National Championship. It was one of the most exciting endings the tournament has ever seen.
What do you think of Jimmy Valvano, his life and his mission? Do you have or are you developing a personal philosophy for how you live your life? If so, would you mind sharing? Who inspires you to be a better person? What qualities do they possess you admire?
Ryan M- jimmy v inspires me very much and i wish i could meet him. Jimmy V was a saint he faught throuh cancer and he started a great foundation for our community. i think that his mission was icredible and i think that someone has to truly dedicated to bassketball and to hope. Jimmy V is a role modle for me just like a bosten college player that has cancer thier my roll modles and i think someone needs to have one to admire.
ReplyDeleteI have a motto for my life and i can usually live by it. My motto is live life every and dont give a thing about what other people say even if it is hurtful but hey life throws bad and good things at you and sometimes you just have to deal with it.
My parents and my freinds inspire me to have good life and live every second of every day. Most of my freinds care about me and dont put me down and it is nice to have a veriety of great freinds either boys or girls. I belive in being social and making new freind that you thought you'd never have lke a kindergartener of someone that is older or younger than you.
Qualities that i psses that i admire are that i keep on trying even though im hurt tierd or i think i just cant do it. Playing sports like basketball is very challenging for me and i usually get that im good and stuff and i belive that and sometimes i doubt myself
I belive in kyle brotzmen and i think that he is awsome and all u haters STOP HATIN
ReplyDeleteTravis-Jimmy Valvano must of been a great coach with all the success that he has had. His life probably inspires people every day to believe in themselves and to keep fighting through any thing that their lives throw at them. I personally do not have a personal philosophy and am not developing one right now but i feel that when i get more mature and learn more about life, i will. I have many people who inspire me every day including, my father, my mother, and Barak Obama!!!! just kidding.......i was kidding.... seriously. any ways yes my dad inspires me to work very hard to make a living and to give my family a great life when i have one.
ReplyDeleteMorgan- I think that Jimmy Valvano is a great person. He is a role model to everybody, His motto for life is great. Even through his tough times he still lives his life to the fullest. Jimmy brings a light to people through his actions, speeking, and personality. He has done alot of good actions with his cancer foundation and commentating. I really admire what he has done. I dont really have a personal philosiphy yet, I just say life live to the fullest. My parents inspire me to work hard eberyday and be thankful for what you have.
ReplyDeletePhillip-Jimmy V sounds like a very nice caring person. Even though he had Cancer, he lived his life very well. He did great things with it. His mission, to findd a cure for cancer, is a very good mission that is worth persuing. My philosophy on life is to: treat others the way you would like to be treated(The Golden Rule), don't listen to people when they say you can't do something, and always try your hardest to achieve your goals. Martin Luther King Jr. inspires me to be a better person. The reason he does so is he didn't give up even when he had been put into jail. He also joined together a whole race for a cause, you would need some serious leadership skills to do this.
ReplyDeleteHalle-Jimmy Valvano was dedicated to living his life to the fullest and never wasting a minute of his life. It just goes to show that if you set your mind to something you can achieve it. He wrote down all of his goals down and he accomplished all of them. My philosophy for how i live my life is focusing on what is happening now and forgetting about the past. It is frozen in time and you can't go back and change it. Like Jimmy V, living every moment of life like it was my last. My grandpa inspires me to be a better person. He never gave up on life even when times were hard. He always believed that if you set your mind to something you can achieve it. He was kind and caring to every one, even if they weren't kind and caring back.
ReplyDeleteAngie- Jimmy Valvano was truly amazing. He didn't let his cancer bring him down and he didn't want to waste any second in his life. He lived his life to the fullest, and he was really inspiring. His speech at the ESPY awards was inspiring also and honestly touched people's hearts. Jimmy Valvano was an amazing person and a great role model. Some qualities of being a good role model are: honesty, kindness, caring, etc. The 1983 National Championship was amazing, especially that last shot. Jimmy Valvano will always be remembered.
ReplyDeletegabby-i think jimmy v was a great guy. it good for him to know and truly want to achieve goals. i think he was a very determined guy, and knew exactly what he wanted in life and that didnt include cancer. i think that is why he didnt really let cancer effect him. in jimmy v's speech he said that cancer might effect him physically but it cannot his soul. i think it was great that espn and jimmy v started a foundation, and that his life will effect people for generations to come. i also think its good for espn to have a week for jimmy valvano. i dont really have a moto because there are a lot of good ones. i guess just like try hard and do your best. anyone thats well does/tries to do good i guess that i know can do that too which inspires me.
ReplyDeleteMarya- jimmy v lived life to the fullest. he sounds like he was a great person. he didnt let cancer ruin his life. he went from being a coach to commentary. his motto for life inspires me because he had such a great take on it. my role model is probably my cousin hannah. she is school president and captain of her bball team. she also does charity work and is really nice to everyone she meets.
ReplyDeletejosu- i think jimmy valvanos mission was to be a good couch and inspire other people if they ever thought about giving up.
ReplyDeleteover the summer my baseball coach always said something whenever he got a chance. some of it was boring but most of is was inspiring. before we played Oregon in the semifinals of the northwest regional. we didnt think we had a chance at winning the game, our coach showed us a picture(the one on the left)even though the frog is about to be eaten he is doing everything he can to stay alive. so my life philosopy is also to never give up.
even though jimmy valvano was about to die he never gave up on himself or on finding a cure for cancer. he was like the frog. he never gave up.
josu-if you cant see the picture go to:http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/kyang/ and scroll down to the bottom
ReplyDeleteHannah- Jimmy Valvano sounds like an amazing man! I thought it was cool how he had note cards with all of his life goals on them, Jimmy knew with enough effort he could do what he wanted in life, and he did. I think that is the reason he fought cancer so amazingly and raised awareness of cancer, so other people could fight cancer and enjoy life like him. I especially admire him because I have seen cancer very much in my family, my dad,grandma,aunt all fought cancer. I have a personal philosophy's on life- "you must survive before you thrive"
ReplyDeleteHannah- Oh I forgot part of the question. My mom inspires me to never give up hope and to try your best
ReplyDeleteRyan Z.- Well, to be honest I really don't know anything about this post so I won't say much. Jimmy V. was inspiring because he never gave up hope and never stopped trying to beat cancer. A lot of people would have probably given up by then and he didn't. He just kept on truckin'. I think it's also really cool that he started that great foundation. It's always really nice when someone gives back to the community like that.
ReplyDeleteDanielle: Jimmy v accomplished many things in his life even though he went through troubles. He was very successful. It was also great for him to fight for his cancer and he didn't let it get in his way. He wanted to do things in life and live it well. My philosophy is "Don't let people bring you down because you are unique in your own way and you are who you are." It's explaining that 2 don't let others opions hurt how you are. My mom inspiries me to be a better person because she always tells me how to be a better person and do the right things so I can be a successful and polite adult. She helps me never give up and do my best.
ReplyDeleteCooper- Jimmy V set goals early in life that he followed he achevied each of these goals early on in life.
ReplyDeleteHe is even stronger in death then he was in life. that is the true measure of a mans life. He has raised millions of dollars for his foundation that has benefited thousands of cancer patients that would have not have been treated without his efforts.
Jimmy V was a great man a great coach and even better human being.
Jimmy V inspires me and a lot of other people. He dedicated his knowledge of basketball to people and sent money for the cure for cancer. Myself is kind of like his goals but I want to go to college and then play in the NBA and then I want to be a basketball coach. My dad and my mom help me in daily life and my dad helps me get better with basketball.
ReplyDeleteThat was Kaed srry
ReplyDeleteAtticus- Jimmy V is an absolute inspiration to me and I am sure to just about everyone. I really think what he did by dedicating money to cancer research and awareness was very selfless after all he had accomplished in his life. I haven't yet developed a philosophy to stick by for my life, but I would like to find a way to establish one that will help me make a positive difference in this world. A person who inspires me is my big brother Kade. He is a good example of how a teenaged boy should act, speak and respect others.
ReplyDeleteLuke- Jimmy V. inspires me and is a role model for me. he is a fighter of cancer and has won many many title in basketball. Jimmy deserves to have a week dedicated to him. he also made the world take a huge step in cancer treatment by donating money to research labs. Jimmy has established many cancer awareness labs and thats what Jimmy V. Has done for me and you
ReplyDeleteMaddy- I think Jimmy V was a great person because he set goals at an early age and achiechieved them before he got cancer. My philosophy in life is you have yiur ups and downs and you just have to get through it. I believe that good matters rather than bad. My coach, Melissa inspires me because she wants us to be better basketball players. And because she is pretty and her friend is really nice. Yes halle you know the person im talking about.....
ReplyDeleteSofia- sorry i am so late posting i didnt know you sent oout a blog for the previous week for some reason and i just found out today. Jimmy V was a really great man because he set himself up to suceed in whatever he did, until he was diagnosed. He has done many things to help the research going on wit cancer now. I don't really have a philosify for my life yet, or one single person i look up to.
ReplyDeleteSOfia- he even set goals while he was fighting through his cancer
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