Three things Jimmy Valvano told everyone they have to do every day, seven days a week, in order to have a full week: laugh, think, and cry. Standing alone, those three words have little meaning. But once you hear Valvano’s story and understand what he was going through, they mean so much more.
Valvano had already built an incredible coaching career. After standing out as an athlete at Rutgers, he landed his first coaching job at just 21 years old with the Scarlet Knights’ freshman team. He would go on to become an ACC Coach of the Year and lead North Carolina State to the 1983 national championship. Decades later, his career was recognized with his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023.
But Valvano’s most lasting impact may have come after his coaching career was already established.
On March 4, 1993, Valvano received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs. During an 11-minute speech, he shared his wisdom, humor, and perspective with the world one last time.
The night before his ESPY speech, Valvano wasn’t spending hours practicing his words. He was barely able to walk and was throwing up because of the cancer that was taking over his body. He wasn’t even sure he would be able to give the speech.
But he showed up.
And that may have been the most Jimmy V thing he could have done.
He began by describing himself as an “emotional and passionate man.” Even with a life-threatening disease, Valvano was still Valvano. He still believed in living life with passion, and he was about to share that belief with everyone watching.
“To me, there are three things we should do every day; we should do this every day of our lives. Number one is to laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. 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.”
The crowd was already emotional, but Valvano didn’t leave them sitting in sadness. Instead, he lifted their spirits with a story from his first year coaching the Rutgers freshman basketball team.
Valvano began by talking about how much he idolized legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. In Lombardi’s book Commitment to Excellence, Valvano remembered a story about how Lombardi would prepare his team before a game.
According to Valvano, Lombardi would wait until three minutes before the team was supposed to take the field. He would then burst through the locker-room doors, pace back and forth without saying a word, and finally break the silence:
“Play for your family, your religion, and for the Green Bay Packers.”
Valvano loved the story so much that he decided to use it before his first game coaching the Rutgers freshman team. “That’s beautiful. Your family, your religion, and Rutgers basketball,” he thought.
So he waited until three minutes before the team took the court. Then he tried to recreate Lombardi’s entrance.
“I go to knock down the doors, just like Lombardi. Boom! They don’t open.”
The crowd erupted in laughter.
Valvano continued, explaining how he tried to shake his arm to get the feeling back in it while pacing in front of his 19-year-old players. Then, finally, he spoke.
“All eyes on me,” Valvano recalled. “Play for your family, your religion, and for the Green Bay Packers.”
The crowd erupted again.
Valvano couldn’t believe what he had just done.
And somehow, that story may have captured Jimmy Valvano better than any championship ever could. Even while standing in front of a crowd knowing his life was coming to an end, he found a way to make people laugh.
He closed his iconic speech with one final thought:
“Enjoy your life, all the precious moments you have.”
He reminded everyone to live each day with emotion and thought. Before closing, he announced that he and ESPN had created the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research, built around a simple motto:
“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”
Valvano died just 21 days later, on April 28, 1993.
But he never really left.
He lives on through his stories, his foundation, the people he inspired, and the speech that continues to be remembered more than three decades later.
If you made it this far, I want to challenge you to do one thing tomorrow. Strive to laugh. Strive to think. Strive to cry. String seven days like that together, and have yourself a full week. And don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.