"Don't Give Up, Don't Ever Give Up"

Around this time every year, ESPN announces it is raising money for the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research. This foundation was put together back in 1993 and is dedicated to the memory of the late great Jimmy Valvano who passed away from this awful disease. For those of you who are unaware of Jimmy V, he was head coach of NC State basketball, who knocked off the famous Phi Slamma Jamma team from Houston in 1983. At the time, it was considered one of the biggest upsets in NCAA basketball history.

So I was perusing ESPN.com today and saw a link for Jimmy V's famous speech he gave in 1993 at the ESPY's where he received the Arthur Ashe Lifetime Achievement Award.  He said, "Cancer can take away all my physical ability.  It cannot touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; it cannot touch my soul.  And those three things are going to carry on forever." What many don't know is at the time of this speech, he was literally on his death bed. I get chills every time I see it. If you have a few minutes, I encourage you to watch it. His words are inspirational. Below is an introduction by Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski and the speech follows.