Jimmy Valvano Inspiration Paper

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John Bart Speech Comm. 28 April, 2013 Jim Valvano Espy Speech Critique Jim Valvano was a decorated and accomplished basketball coach, sports broadcaster, and public speaker. In 1993 Jimmy Valvano spoke at the inaugural Espy awards, and event created by ESPN to honor the accomplished athletes and sports teams of the past year in sports. Jim was honored with receiving the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, an award also won by other athletes and figures in sports who had overcome tremendous obstacles to create a long lasting legacy and incredibly inspirational stories. Jimmy V did not win this award because of his tremendous success as a college as a college basketball coach including winning the 1983 national championship, he won it for his amazing courage to fight and one day beat cancer even if he was not alive to see it. Jimmy was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1992 and was given a scarce amount of time to live. On March 3rd of 1993 as Jimmy’s hour glass of life was wasting down to its final grains, powerful and inspiring words vaulted from Jimmy’s mouth that could make the strongest of storms weak in the knees. Jimmy spread a message of love that night that continues to carry on today through the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. I will be critiquing Jimmy’s courageous speech in the following paragraphs. At the beginning of Valvano’s speech as all eyes were on him, recalling the Tupac Shakur album all eyes on me, everyone watched as if the words were coming directly from the mouth of God. Jim opens his speech with a joke saying “That’s the lowest I’ve ever seen Dick Vitale since the owner of the Detroit Pistons called him in and told him he should go into broadcasting” Somewhat lightening up the tense atmosphere of his cancer diagnosis, gaining the audience’s attention, and creating continuity with them as well. Shortly thereafter Valvano humbles himself by

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