James Thomas Anthony Valvano, nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. While the head coach at NC State, his team won the 1983 national title against improbable odds. He is most recognized for his reaction of running around on the court looking for somebody to hug after the game-winning shot in the 1983 NCAA finals. After his career, he gave an inspirational and memorable speech in 1993 at the ESPY Awards, while terminally ill with cancer.
About Jim Valvano in brief
James Thomas Anthony Valvano, nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. While the head coach at NC State, his team won the 1983 national title against improbable odds. He is most recognized for his reaction of running around on the court looking for somebody to hug after the game-winning shot in the 1983 NCAA finals. After his career, he gave an inspirational and memorable speech in 1993 at the ESPY Awards, while terminally ill with cancer, telling listeners to laugh, think, and cry each day. He gave the speech less than two months before his death from adenocarcinoma, a type of many glandular cancers. Each year, a college basketball tournament called the Jimmy V Classic is held in his honor and in support of cancer victims and survivors. He was a point guard at Rutgers University in 1967, where he partnered with first-team All-American Bob Lloyd in the backcourt. His 19-year career as a head basketball coach began at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore for a season; he was then an assistant at Connecticut for two years. Following that, he was the head Coach at Bucknell, Iona, and North Carolina State. His overall record atNC State was 209–114 and his career record as aHead coach was 346–210.
He also served as NC State’s athletic director from 1986 to 1989. In 1989, accusations of rules violations surfaced in the book Personal Fouls by Peter Golenbock. These accusations centered mostly on high school All- American Chris Washburn, who managed only a 470 out of 1600 on his SAT. A 1989 NCAA investigation cleared Valviano, but found that players sold tickets. The 1990 NCAA state-appointed Poo Commission issued a 32-page report that concluded there were no major violations of NCAA regulations, and that his staff’s oversight of his players’ academic progress violated the spirit of the law. As a result, NC State placed its basketball program on probation for 2 years and banned from participating in tournament and participating in the NCAA Elite 8 in 1985 and 1986. The ESPy Awards now include theJimmy V Award named in his name. Valvaneo was a three-sport athlete at Seaford High School in Seaford on Long Island and graduated in 1963. He was named Senior Athlete of the Year at Rutgers in 1967 and graduated with a degree in English in 1967. He later coached the Rutgers freshman basketball team prior to his first game as their coach.
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