By Jared Trexler
Cancer kills.
It affects husbands and wives. Brothers and sisters. Aunts and uncles. Best friends. Those you just meet on the street.
The disease has a pulse. A heart. It's real.
Cancer doesn't discriminate. It cripples the young. The old. The healthy. The sick.
It leaves memories. Pictures. Children without fathers. Hearts not whole. Tears streaming from Heaven.
Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, four teams take the court to benefit the search for a cure and to honor one of college sports' most passionate, instrumental individuals: Jim Valvano.
Valvano wasn't just a coach, but an individual that encapsulated what is great about human existence. He was a man that breathed hope, embraced challenge and smiled twice for every frown.
Cancer took Valvano from his family, friends, players and sports fraternity. It didn't beat him. He wouldn't let it.
Maybe more than every nickel donated through the phones to The V Foundation Tuesday night, the Jimmy V Classic's purpose is to illustrate the best in human nature.
Arizona head coach Lute Olson walks the sidelines after cancer took the love of his life, Bobbi Olson, following 47 years of marriage.
The fight marches on. Dreams spring from Hope.
That is the lesson displayed since the inception of the two-game hoops classic in the Big Apple.
Listen, I mean really listen, to Valvano's words at the end of his tear-jerking ESPY Speech in 1993.
That line isn't the most popular from the speech, but it personifies Valvano and exudes the most important theme.
Nothing is possible without hope.
And believe me, you don't know what hope is until you look at a dying relative, one you love and respect, and see the determination and hope of life in the eyes of death.
Then years later, you can look at his young children and understand such determination. It's instilled in those left to live his life, continue his dreams, pass on his laugh. His smile. His exuberance for the day-to-day.
Valvano really did know what he was saying when he pleaded, "Don't give up. Don't ever give up." Cancer may take the physical being, but it will never wash away that determination and hope.
It lives on in each player on the floor at the Garden Tuesday night. It lives on in Lute Olson and Valvano's best friend Dick Vitale.
It lives on in me.
Cancer kills.
It affects husbands and wives. Brothers and sisters. Aunts and uncles. Best friends. Those you just meet on the street.
The disease has a pulse. A heart. It's real.
Cancer doesn't discriminate. It cripples the young. The old. The healthy. The sick.
It leaves memories. Pictures. Children without fathers. Hearts not whole. Tears streaming from Heaven.
Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, four teams take the court to benefit the search for a cure and to honor one of college sports' most passionate, instrumental individuals: Jim Valvano.
Valvano wasn't just a coach, but an individual that encapsulated what is great about human existence. He was a man that breathed hope, embraced challenge and smiled twice for every frown.
Cancer took Valvano from his family, friends, players and sports fraternity. It didn't beat him. He wouldn't let it.
Maybe more than every nickel donated through the phones to The V Foundation Tuesday night, the Jimmy V Classic's purpose is to illustrate the best in human nature.
Arizona head coach Lute Olson walks the sidelines after cancer took the love of his life, Bobbi Olson, following 47 years of marriage.
The fight marches on. Dreams spring from Hope.
That is the lesson displayed since the inception of the two-game hoops classic in the Big Apple.
Listen, I mean really listen, to Valvano's words at the end of his tear-jerking ESPY Speech in 1993.
I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get you're emotions going. To be enthusiastic every day and as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm," to keep your dreams alive in spite of problems whatever you have. The ability to be able to work hard for your dreams to come true, to become a reality.http://www.jimmyv.org/rememberingjim/espy.cfm
That line isn't the most popular from the speech, but it personifies Valvano and exudes the most important theme.
Nothing is possible without hope.
And believe me, you don't know what hope is until you look at a dying relative, one you love and respect, and see the determination and hope of life in the eyes of death.
Then years later, you can look at his young children and understand such determination. It's instilled in those left to live his life, continue his dreams, pass on his laugh. His smile. His exuberance for the day-to-day.
Valvano really did know what he was saying when he pleaded, "Don't give up. Don't ever give up." Cancer may take the physical being, but it will never wash away that determination and hope.
It lives on in each player on the floor at the Garden Tuesday night. It lives on in Lute Olson and Valvano's best friend Dick Vitale.
It lives on in me.
2 comments:
That was the shit. Powerful stuff.
This is one wonderful piece of writing. The words express great feeling and emotion. I should know the writing is of my son. We as a family lost too many family menbers to this illness. Jared's uncle died three years ago this month to colon cancer at the age of 50. For this young man to write this article at this time of the year is inspirational. Read this article and think about the words and how they can have an effect on your life or the life of your family member and you will know the work of this foundation is not about a grest coach but a great human being.
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