Jim Valvano

Valvano celebrates his NCAA Championship. (Google Images ())

Heroes have been around since the creation of time. Whether it's the fictional Superman, or the reality form, such as a veteran, heroes inspire the everyday people around them. It is rare for a hero to have such an everlasting effect on the people surrounding him/her though. As Art Lafleur, who played Babe Ruth in The Sandlot, said, "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die." Jim Valvano is easily a hero, but he is also a legend, for he touches the lives of so many people, even today.

Jim Valvano was born on March 10, 1946. He attended college at Rutgers University, where he played basketball. Just two years after his graduation from college, he landed his first basketball head coaching job at John Hopkins University in 1968, leading them to a 10-9 record, the school's first winning record in 24 seasons. He then moved on to coach Bucknell University in 1972, and then Iona College in 1975, where he led them to two NCAA Tournament appearances. Finally, he made his final stop at N.C. State in 1980. In just three years, he coached the Wolfpack to an ACC Tournament Championship, and then an improbable NCAA Tournament run, where N.C. State won the NCAA Championship over heavily favored Houston on a buzzer-beater dunk. No one gave Valvano and his Wolfpack a chance and they won in the biggest upset in NCAA history. After his coaching career, Vavlano signed on to be a basketball commentator for ABC/ESPN.

Valvano was at the top of the world, loving life. He had a great job, wrote three books, gave motivational speeches all the time, and impacted the lives of people every day. He was living the life of a hero, but every hero has his kryptonite. In June 1992, Valvano was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Metastatic Adenocarcinoma. He was given a year to live. That didn't stop Jim Valvano.

He continued to inspire, motivate, and change the lives of everyone he met. On March 4, 1993, Valvano was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage And Humanitarian Award at the ESPYs. While receiving this honor, Valvano gave his famous ESPYs speech, where once again, he spoke to a group of people, inspiring, motivating, and changing their lives. During his speech Valvano spoke about many memorable and inspirational thoughts, including, "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. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. If you laugh, you think, and if you cry, that's a full day," and, "Cancer can take away all 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," and lastly, perhaps Valvano's most famous quote of all, in the midst of dying of cancer, he said, "Don't give up, don't ever give up." Valvano also announced The Jimmy V Foundation during his ESPYs speech. The foundation is aimed towards raising money for cancer research, and the foundation is fully operational today.

His ESPYs speech remains etched in the hearts of thousands of people lucky enough to hear his moving thoughts. He didn't talk for long, but his message lasted forever. After a little under a year with cancer, Valvano died, on April 28, 1993. Jim Valvano couldn't survive his kryptonite, but he did not let it kill his soul and spirit. He has such an eternal effect on the people who he met, and that effect remains with those people today. Valvano, who has been dead for over 20 years, who tried to help people in any way he could during his life, now helps people without physically being there by helping cancer patients through his foundation. His soul and spirit is undying, and he will never be dead in the hearts of thousands of people, because heroes get remembered, but legend never die.