James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Carolina State University. While the head coach at NC State, his team won the 1983 NCAA Division I men's basketball title against improbable odds. Valvano is most remembered for his ecstatic celebration after winning the national championship game against the heavily-favored Houston Cougars. Valvano is also remembered for an inspirational and memorable speech delivered at the 1993 ESPY Awards while terminally ill with cancer. Valvano implored the audience to laugh, think, and cry each day and announced the formation of The V Foundation for Cancer Research whose motto would be "Don't give up. Don't ever give up". He gave the speech less than two months before his death from adenocarcinoma. The ESPY Awards now include the Jimmy V Award named in his honor. Each year, a college basketball tournament called the Jimmy V Classic is held in his honor and in support of cancer victims and survivors. Early years Valvano was the middle child of Rocco and Angelina Valvano, and was of Italian descent. He was born in Corona, Queens, New York. Valvano was a three-sport athlete at Seaford High School in Seaford on Long Island and graduated in 1963. Football coach Vince Lombardi was Valvano's role model. Valvano told an ESPY audience, on March 3, 1993, that he took some of Lombardi's inspirational speeches out of the book Commitment to Excellence, and used them with his team. Valvano discussed how he planned to use Lombardi's speech to the Green Bay Packers in front of his Rutgers freshman basketball team prior to his first game as their coach. He also mentioned that he accidentally told his team to "fight for the Green Bay Packers." College playing career Valvano was a point guard at Rutgers University in 1967, where he partnered with first-team All-American Bob Lloyd in the backcourt. Under the leadership of Valvano and Lloyd, Rutgers finished third in the 1967 National Invitation Tournament (NIT), which was the last basketball tournament held at the third Madison Square Garden. (The 1967 NCAA tournament field was just 23 teams and the NIT invited 14 teams.) He was named Senior Athlete of the Year at Rutgers in 1967, and graduated with a degree in English in 1967.