Jim Valvano Speech

[bigmike]

Since the Jimmy V Classic is going on now, I figured it'd be a good time to give this link so people could watch this video.

Here (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jimvalvanoespyaward.htm) you can stream the video of Jim Valvano's famous speech as well as read the transcript below the video.

I personally think it's the greatest speech I've seen.

[xbrokendownx]

still gives me chills every time i watch it

[thejetstolehome]

still gives me chills every time i watch it

same--absolutely amazing.

[preppyak]

yep...I remember making the same thread last year at this time...it's one that should be made every year to remind people.

"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. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

and more importantly, the part taht moves me every time regardless:

"Cancer can take away all my physical ability. 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."

[we are cured]

"And...that screen is flashing up there thirty seconds like I care about that screen right now, huh? I got tumors all over my body. I'm worried about some guy in the back going thirty seconds, huh? You got a lot, hey va fa napoli, buddy. You got a lot."

Yeah. If you want to make a grown man cry, play him that speech. Incredible.

[preppyak]

"And...that screen is flashing up there thirty seconds like I care about that screen right now, huh? I got tumors all over my body. I'm worried about some guy in the back going thirty seconds, huh? You got a lot, hey va fa napoli, buddy. You got a lot."

Yeah. If you want to make a grown man cry, play him that speech. Incredible.


haha...that's my favorite part of the speech...I just wish Youtube hadn't taken down all the video forms of it.

[Talib Scottie]

Love this man. This speech and shots of him running on the court after NC State's NCAA victory are two of the greatest NCAA Basketball shots you'll ever see.

[Goodbye Forever]

haha...that's my favorite part of the speech...I just wish Youtube hadn't taken down all the video forms of it.

Honestly. I know big companies are cracking down on having their footage on there, but you'd think ESPN could let this one thing go.

Such an amazing moment.

[Chriz2z]

I was coaching at Rutgers University, that was my first job -- oh, that's wonderful [reaction to applause] -- and I was the freshman coach. That's when freshmen played on freshman teams. And I was so fired up about my first job. I see Lou Holtz, Coach Holtz here. What was it like, the very first job you had, right? The very first time you stood in the locker room to give a pep talk. That's a special place, the locker room, for a coach to give a talk. So my idol as a coach was Vince Lombardi, and I read this book called Commitment To Excellence by Vince Lombardi. And in the book, Lombardi talked about the fist time he spoke before his Green Bay Packer team in the locker room -- they were perennial losers. And I'm reading this and Lombardi said he was thinking should it be a long talk? A short talk? But he wanted it to be emotional, so it would be brief.


And here's what he did. Normally you get in the locker room, I don't know, twenty-five minutes, a half hour before the team takes the field; you do your little X's and 0's, and then you give the great Knute Rockne talk. We all do. Speech number eight-four. You pull them right out, you get ready, get your squad ready. Well, this is the first one I ever gave. And I read this thing -- Lombardi, what he said was he didn't go in. He waited. His team was wondering: Where is he? Where is this great coach? He's not there. Ten minutes -- he's still not there. Three minutes before they could take the field Lombardi comes in, bangs the door open, and I think you all remember what great presence he had, alright, great presence. He walked in and he just walked back and forth, like this, just walked, staring at the players. And he said, "All eyes on me." And I'm reading this in this book. I'm getting this picture of Lombardi before his first game and he said "Gentlemen, we will be successful this year, if you can focus on three things, and three things only: Your family, your religion, and the Green Bay Packers." And he...like that...And they knocked the walls down and the rest was history. I said, that's beautiful. I'm going to do that. Your family, your religion, and Rutgers basketball.


That's it. I had it. Listen, I'm twenty-one years old. The kids I'm coaching are nineteen, alright? And I'm going to be the greatest coach in the world, the next Lombardi. And...I'm practicing outside of the locker room and the managers tell me "you got to go in." "Not yet, not yet"... family, religion, Rutgers Basketball. All eyes on me. I got it, I got it. Then finally he said, "three minutes," and I said "fine." True story. I go to knock the doors open just like Lombardi. Boom! They didn't open. I almost broke my arm. I was like...Now I was down, the players were looking. Help the coach out, help him out. And now I did like Lombardi, I walked back and forth, and I was going like that with my arm getting the feeling back in it. Finally I said, "Gentlemen, all eyes on me." These kids wanted to play, they're nineteen. "Let's go," I said. "Gentlemen, we'll be successful this year if you can focus on three things, and three things only: Your family, your religion, and the Green Bay Packers," I told them. I did that. I remember that. I remember...where I came from.

That is my favorite part of the speech. It's the one thing I cannot get out of my mind.

But the entire speech is memorable. Such an inspiration

[thejetstolehome]

i absolutely love that lombardi comparasin.

[dekdog11]

such a moving speech.

[bigmike]

yep...I remember making the same thread last year at this time...it's one that should be made every year to remind people.

"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. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

and more importantly, the part taht moves me every time regardless:

"Cancer can take away all my physical ability. 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."
It really is such a great speech. For my money, best speech of all time. Yes, it's sports related from a sports related figure, but the speech is just so much about life that it's impossible to deny how great of a speech it is. Unreal, i could watch that for hours.
haha...that's my favorite part of the speech...I just wish Youtube hadn't taken down all the video forms of it.
Yeah. I only found this because i was going to upload the video to youtube but it's 10 minute limits unless you're a director. then i found this link on the jim valvano wikipedia page. Again, Wikipedia saving the day.

[Broken Parachute]

Can't help but get a tear in your eye when you watch it. Gives me chills.

[S/T]

Bump. Anyone donate yet this year?