Joshua Riley

Professor Henderson
CAS 137H Sec 008
Laugh. Think. Cry.
Just last week, a close friend received the news that her uncle was diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, this was one of the roughly 4,563
new cancer cases that are diagnosed in the United States every single day (Cancer Facts &
Figures 2014). To see a loved one fight for their life leaves a scar that time cannot heal. James
Jimmy Valvano, national championship winning basketball coach, was eight months into his
arduous battle with metastatic adenocarcinoma when he received the Arthur Ashe Award for
Courage at the inaugural 1993 ESPYs Award Ceremony. Valvano addresses the members of the
audience with casual humor and sentiments. Through a passionate speech charged with emotion,
Jimmy Valvano uses his recent health struggles and his connection to sports to entice the sporting
community and the world to join him in his fight against cancer.
Timing is everything. In the year of 1993, the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly
(ESPY) Awards began recognizing the best male and female athletes in each major professional
American sport. Sports, amateur and professional alike, are a major part of life in the United
States. Just this year, Super Bowl XLVIII massed a total of 111.5 million viewers (Super Bowl
2014 Ratings Set New Record). Though not nearly as large, the taping of the ESPYs still attracts
the attention of millions of athletes and their fans. The ceremony is attended by hundreds of
famous celebrities and media sources. Jimmy Valvano was addressing an audience with
formidable purses and power over public opinion.
In the 1993 ESPYs Award ceremony, there was only one award given for achievement
outside the field of athletics. This was the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. An African American
professional tennis player in the 1960s and 70s, Arthur Ashe was personally affected by

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segregation at home and abroad. He fought for the ending of apartheid in South Africa, as well as
raised awareness for the funding of HIV/AIDS, a disease that he contracted from a tainted blood
transfusion. "I do not like being the personification of a problem, much less a problem involving
a killer disease, but I know I must seize these opportunities to spread the word" (Arthur Ashe
Biography). Though Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Valvano battled against different life-threatening
diseases, their suffering creates an optimal rhetorical situation in which they could become a
figurehead to promote change in the worlds view of a certain topic. Ashes ESPY award gave
Jimmy Valvano the pedestal and the moment to spread the word about a killer disease.
Timing is everything.
The deadly illnesses that befell Ashe and Valvano set the kairos for these ailing heroes.
An ESPYs audience, one knowledgeable of the sporting community, needed no background
history of Jimmy Valvanos recent struggles with cancer. This allowed Valvano to skip exposition
and proceed to the purpose of his speech. Time is very precious to me. I dont know how much
time I have left and I have some things I would like to say (ESPY Award Acceptance Speech).
The commonplace of the immeasurable value of time tied with a gravely honest statement
connected the audience in his pain. It is a human propensity to fear the inevitable death that all
men and women share. Seeing the results of the deterioration of a man who now requires
assistance to walk up a flight of stairs floods a healthy persons heart with sympathy. Valvanos
perseverance to gain the strength to merely attend this ceremony exemplifies his courage. Once
behind his podium though, Jimmy Valvano becomes a vibrant young man again, pacing the stage
like the basketball court sidelines he once controlled. Valvano shares an embarrassing story of his
first pregame speech in his early coaching career. This comical anecdote gives viewers a sense of
friendship through shared emotions. His sports story is well suited for the audience that he is

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addressing. Valvano shows an enthusiasm for sports, unchanged by cancer. The indefatigable
character of Jimmy Valvano, even in the face of death, demands respect from the sporting
community and the world.
Throughout his speech, Jimmy Valvano references prominent athletic figures in
attendance at the award ceremony. He mentions coaches Mike Krzyzewski and Lou Holtz, along
with sports broadcaster Dick Vitale, who are all well-established and respected names in the
sporting community. The establishment of his credibility among the greatest leaders of sports in
the United States increases the power over his audience. This admiration allows Jimmy Valvano
to speak without constraint. He jokes to his audience about the man in the back telling him he
only had thirty seconds left to speak. I got tumors all over my body. Im worried about some
guy in the back going thirty seconds? You got a lot, hey va fa napoli, buddy (ESPY Award
Acceptance Speech). This response to a time limit turns a very serious matter into a laugh. The
fact that Jimmy Valvano may only have months left to live gives him the right to speak freely on
what is now his stage.
Starting from the moment he was helped to his podium, Jimmy Valvano never loses focus
of his goal. He wished to entertain, to connect, and to emotionally move his audience. The tone
of this acceptance speech was informal and conversational. He mentions his parents by name, as
if his audience was part of his immediate family. Unlike most speakers appealing to an
audiences emotion, Jimmy Valvano does not address the pain involved with his illness. Instead,
Valvano offers life advice and insights into his own attitudes. Jimmy Valvano is not asking for
pity from the world. He is asking his audience for a change in attitude. With this in mind, Jimmy
Valvano begins to implore the help of his audience. The amount of money pouring in for AIDS
is not enough, but is significant. But if I told you its ten times the amount that goes in for cancer

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research. I also told you that five hundred thousand people will die this year of cancer (ESPY
Award Acceptance Speech).
After engaging his audience with his emotions, his credibility, and his halting statistics,
Jimmy Valvano holds the audiences emotions at his command. He reveals the reason for his
abnormally lengthy acceptance speech. With ESPNs financial support, the Jimmy V Foundation
for Cancer Research would be created. The connection between all viewers of the ESPYs and
Jimmy Valvano now extends to his newly founded charity as well. We need your help. I need
your help. We need money for research. It may not save my life. It may save my childrens lives.
It may save someone you love. This statement makes Jimmy Valvanos fight against cancer
personal for the individual member of the audience. Not only is a man they admire and respect
dying from this disease, so could their children and their families. The circumstances that
surrounded the carcinoma that caused the deterioration and death of Jimmy Valvano are truly
unfortunate. However, out of this tragedy arose an opportunity for a great man, coach, and
speaker to positively impact a countless number of lives.
Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. 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.
While cancer was weakening a mans body, it simultaneously provided a rhetor with the
opportunity to influence change in priorities of the sporting community and the world. Jimmy
Valvano died within two months of giving this historic speech. His mind, heart, and soul will
carry on forever in the memory of his life, the video of this speech, and the impact of the V
Foundation for Cancer Research. Every year, ESPN dedicates a week of college basketball to
Valvano and his foundation. To this day, the Jimmy V Foundation has given over 115 million in
grants for institutions aiming to find new cures for cancer (Our Story). The implications of

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Jimmy Valvanos iconic speech in this rhetorical situation include involving the entire sporting
community- fans, athletes, and coaches- in the crusade to fund the search for the cure for cancer.
If you laugh, you think, and you cry, thats a full day. Thats a heck of a day (ESPY Acceptance
Award Speech). Whenever I watch this speech, I can proudly admit that Jimmy Valvano makes
me laugh. He makes me think. He makes me cry.

Words: 1398

Works Cited
"Cancer Facts & Figures 2014." The American Cancer Society. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
"Life Story." Arthur Ashe. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.arthurashe.org/life-story.html>.
"Our Story." The V Foundation for Cancer Research. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.
"Super Bowl 2014 Ratings Set New Record." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, Web. 10 Oct. 2014.
Valvano, James. "ESPY Award Acceptance Speech." Madison Square Garden, New York. 4 Mar.
1993. The V Foundation for Cancer Research. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.