Dick Vitale gave an emotional speech on Wednesday night as he accepted the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the ESPYs.
In it, he paid tribute to his friend Jim Valvano, the late national championship coach and ESPN analyst, who started the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research with the help of Vitale and other colleagues at ESPN.
On Thursday morning, it was someone else’s turn to pay tribute to Dick Vitale.
“I appreciate him continuing to push everything that needs to be pushed,” Jay Williams said on First Take.
Williams and Vitale have known each other for a long time, going back to when Williams played for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. He certainly knows the impact Vitale has had on the way people follow and understand college basketball.
“The legacy that he’s left as an imprint on the game of basketball pales in comparison to the legacy and imprint that he’s going to leave to advance the ball forward on cancer research and the Jimmy V Foundation.”
In his nearly 20-minute speech, Dick Vitale promised the audience that he was not going to give up on Valvano’s dream of putting an end to cancer. He said the only way to do that is to “raise dollars and give oncologists a fighting chance”.
Jay Williams hopes that will end up being a rallying cry and motivator for people to support The Jimmy V Foundation.
“I will advocate for everybody to donate. I donated yesterday,” he said. “I have two family members that passed away from cancer. It’s something that touches us all and it’s our collective job to fight to continue to save lives. It’s something that affects everybody, in every form or fashion.”
