Dick Vitale was the rightful recipient of the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance Wednesday night at the annual ESPY Awards. He used his time on stage to thank and honor his friend and former colleague Jim Valvano, for whom the award is named.
Valvano’s speech at the inaugural ESPY ceremony in 1993 is credited with putting the event on the map. It is also the moment that the former NC State basketball coach and ESPN launched the Jimmy V Foundation, which raises money for cancer research.
“When he got up on that stage I was mesmerized, blown away as he electrified the nation,” Vitale told the crowd on Wednesday night.
Since its launch, the Jimmy V Foundation has raised over $300 million. Vitale told the crowd that the number is impressive and worth celebrating, but it isn’t enough.
“We are not going to stop, stop chasing the dream of raising dollars,” he said. “Jimmy’s dream was to beat cancer. But we must do it because it doesn’t discriminate. It comes after all.”
Dick Vitale missed the majority of the last college basketball season as he battled a number of ailments. He survived both lymphoma and melanoma and also was left silent for weeks as he recovered from surgery to treat dysplasia and ulcerated lesions on his vocal cords.
Fans and colleagues shared well-wishes, tributes, and messages of support with Dickie V during that time. He acknowledged that when you spend as much time in the hospital as he did, it is that kind of support that motivates you to keep going and to get well.
He closed his speech by asking anyone that had been personally affected by cancer in some way to stand up. With the vast majority of people in the room standing, Vitale told the audience that cancer can be devastating and it clearly does not discriminate.
“There’s only one way to beat it, my friends, we have to raise dollars and give oncologists a fighting chance.”
