Jim Valvano's ESPY speech
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Shortly before his death, Jim Valvano spoke at the inaugural ESPY Awards, presented by ESPN, on March 4, 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 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 supposed to be worried about some screen flashing 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 thing Valvano also said in the speech that many remember most are the following words:
To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number 1 is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number 2 is think. You should spend some time in thought. And Number 3 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."
Valvano received a lengthy standing ovation. He died less than two months later. Valvano died at the age of 47 after a yearlong battle with cancer. He is interred at Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina.
