- During the 2019 ESPY Awards, high school football coach Rob Mendez will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.
- Jimmy Valvano famously gave his "don't give up, don't ever give up" speech at the 1993 ESPYs. He died of cancer at age 47, less than two months later.
Every year, the ESPY Awards present the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance in honor of the late college basketball coach and broadcaster, Jim Valvano. The accolade is given to a sports figure who "has overcome great obstacles through perseverance and determination" — just as Jimmy once did.
On the court, Jimmy's career soared as the 10-season basketball coach of North Carolina State. In 1983, he led his underdog team to the national championship and won Cinderella style against the Houston Cougars. After resigning, Jimmy became a well-known, colorful sportscaster on ESPN and ABC Sports. There, he befriended Dick Vitale, and together they became an iconic broadcasting duo in the sports world.
Then, in 1992 at the age of 46, Jimmy was diagnosed with metastatic adenocarcinoma, a glandular cancer a type of glandular that spread to the bones.
"He said [to the doctors], 'Give me a reason to be excited,'" Jimmy's brother Bobby Valvano recalled to the Los Angeles Times. "'Then I'll tell myself, 'Hey, I'm going to be one of those 5%.' But nobody [would] speak that way ... "
After getting the news, Dick remembers Jimmy telling him that he was going to "fight and battle this thing" before it "knocked him out."
Months later, he was down 35 pounds and was taking 24 tablets of Advil to get through the day, according to Sports Illustrated. Right before he was set to accept the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award at the ESPYs in March of 1993, Dick said Jimmy felt "miserable" and "sicker than a dog." In fact, he was very close to not going to the awards ceremony at all — but after a phone call with Dick, he agreed to receive the award in person.
"Somehow, through the magic he did," Dick explained. Realizing how sick he was, the ESPY production team considered letting Jimmy sit from his chair and deliver remarks so he wouldn't have to get up on stage at all. But Jimmy was determined to stand and told Dick that he needed to get him up on stage. And so, he did.
Dick later recalled to ESPN just how ill Jimmy was the evening he gave his iconic remarks, even though he appeared in high spirits.
"I honestly did not know how he was going to make it up to the stage, and I remember standing next to him, in total awe as he spoke," Dick wrote in 2013. "We helped him off of the stage that evening and he was absolutely amazing in his words as he talked about beating cancer."
Jimmy's speech lasted for more than 10 minutes.
“I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have,” Jimmy declared. “To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get your emotions going. To be enthusiastic every day and as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm,’ to keep your dreams alive in spite of problems whatever you have. The ability to be able to work hard for your dreams to come true, to become a reality.”
Moments later, Jimmy announced that he would be launching the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research. He then uttered his iconic motto that continues to inspire athletes and non-athletes around the world to this very day:
Don’t give up, don’t ever give up. That’s what I’m going to try to do every minute that I have left. I will thank God for the day and the moment I have ... I’m going to work as hard as I can for cancer research and hopefully, maybe, we’ll have some cures and some breakthroughs. I’d like to think, I’m going to fight my brains out to be back here again next year for the Arthur Ashe recipient. I want to give it next year!
Two months later, on April 29, 1993, Jimmy died. His legacy continues 26 years later through his foundation, which has awarded over $225 million in cancer research grants since the late basketball coach first introduced it to the world at the ESPYs.
"We had many moments," Jimmy's friend and Duke's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski once said. "The very best moment, I think, was when he said ‘I’m gonna die. I know I’m gonna die, but I’m gonna win.’ And I asked him ‘what do you mean?’ And he said, ‘I want to beat cancer. After I die, I want – when we’ve finally beat cancer – I want to be there.”
