Jim Valvano Acceptance Speech

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Jim Valvano can be considered by many one of the most remembered players and coaches of all time and some may even say he was the best. Jim Valvano, Jimmy V for short, received the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award at the first ever the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, also known as the ESPY Awards. He delivered a speech that will forever be remembered. On March 4, 1993 Valvano’s acceptance speech at the ESPY awards greatly impacted the world and will never be forgotten even though he died a little over month later. Jimmy V has left a lasting impression on the sports world that will forever be an encouragement to those battling cancer but also to those living life day to day.
Jim Valvano was and still is a widely recognized …show more content…

This award has been an outlet for male athletes to “break down the locker room walls and cry a little, or love a little, or show a sensitive side” (Collins, para. 14). Valvano learned his bone cancer was terminal and in response announced that ESPN was creating the V Foundation to help fund cancer research. The emotional speech he gave during the 1993 ESPYs was legendary and was the ground work for the V Foundation to come (Hill, para. 2). The V foundation is a foundation dedicated to cancer research whose end goal is to find a cure. It’s motto? Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. The formation of the V Foundation arose out of the first ESPY speech by Valvano, and, while some consider the ESPYs an excuse to dress up and receive an award, it is much more than that. It [ESPYs] is one of the biggest TV fundraisers for the V foundation where “you have athletes waging one of the most important contests of all: the fight against cancer” (Finder, para. 9). Years later, his speech is still played every summer and continues to motivate those battling cancer. Jimmy’s brother, Bob Valvano, once said “we were afraid the memory would fade into the background and the foundation would lose stream. But it has been the opposite. The ESPYs have grown each year” which shows the lasting legacy Jimmy V has left behind (Finder, para. 19). In 2004 ESPN called for “Show Your Spirit Day” in which the fans wear their favorite team shirts and donate at least $5 to the V Foundation. This was done to honor Valvano and celebrate his life in a positive way, by giving back to the cancer research community (Hill, para. 3). George Bodenheimer, President of ESPN, Inc., was a huge advocate of the V Foundation and even raised the expectations of ESPNs efforts supporting the V Foundation for Cancer Research which was founded by ESPN in

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