Jimmy Valvano’s Speech at the 1993 ESPY awards

Resource Type: Personal
Who this Book is Good For: Emerging Leaders, Experienced Leaders, Executives, Entrepreneurs

In 1993, Jimmy Valvano was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award, and the acceptance speech he gave hits home for me every time I hear it. My father died at the age of 63, when I was 25, from cancer. We didn’t know until many years after his death that while he lived for 3 years, he had been given 6 months to live when he first received the diagnosis.  Even with this tremendous reality, there was never a day, or even part of a day, when he did not exude hope and positivity. Through chemotherapy, financial realities, unfinished life goals, and the thought of leaving the love of his life, he never had a single day where he didn’t exude confidence, class, and positivity.

Having experienced what that does to the people who surround special people, seeing what Jimmy Valvano was able to do with his fame and connections will make just about anything in one’s life seem attainable.

~Neil