The One and The Only Jimmy Valvano
“Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding”. These were the words that the late Jimmy Valvano gave to his audience at the ESPY Awards on March 3rd 1993. The ESPY Awards are sponsored by ESPN each year for those recognized for their achievement in sports. Almost 21 years ago, “Jimmy V” as he was known gave his speech because he was not told to; rather, he gave his speech because he was qualified to influence a revolution. Jimmy Valvano was a prestigious collegiate basketball coach at North Carolina State University. It was at North Carolina State, where he led his Cinderella team to a national championship in 1983. Just nine years later in 1992 he was diagnosed with a rare
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James wanted to accomplish all of his dreams with blood, sweat, and tears of hard work, and loyalty to the game he loved. Those blood, sweat and tears began to develop before the speech even started, and transpired till the very end, setting up how Valvano would approach what he would actually say. The first clip of the speech would be Jimmy V walking up the stage weary about the possibility of falling in front of the soon to be audience. For anybody who knows somebody who has, or who had cancer, walking up those few steps to get onto the stage were basically equivalent to climbing Mount Everest. Vigilant of potentially falling and showing how weak he actually was only developed Valvano’s emotional tone of the speech that never gave way. Since Jimmy V did not have a preplanned speech he spoke from his heart analyzing how close one can come from failure, to how much more you need to achieve for success. As words started sputtering out, Valvano used his emotional tone to organize what he actually wanted to inspire throughout the rest of the speech. Valvano had planned to be emotional, humorous, sympathetic, and straight forward throughout the whole speech to build up to this moment where he expects everyone watching to be more aware of cancer research because it is just as important as AIDS research. From this point on all eyes were on Jimmy V, the audience was calm, cool, and collective, and on
One of the devices he used throughout the speech was pathos. Pathos is a way of persuading an audience through their emotions. This was shown when Robert Kennedy
Joe DiMaggio was one of the best baseball players of all time. He set many records, including the longest wining streak in Major League Baseball history, it lasted 56 games. He came to America as the son of poor Italian immigrants, but grew up to be an American Icon.
During his speech, he is honest and accepting of his condition but continues to stay positive. Although he knows he’s dying, he’s still positive even through his darkest times. He makes his audience realize that their problems aren’t so big and to enjoy life.
The tone in Jimmy Valvano’s speech is outgoing and lively. He easily grabs the attention of the audience by being so humble and grateful, and speaking softly to
1983, 89, and 99 NHL All Star games, giving him a grand total of 35
Lamar Carter known to all as, Vince Carter, was born on January 26.1977 in Daytona Beach, FL. Carter became an extraordinary leader at a young age. Carter used his talent to gain fame and fortune so that he could give back to his community and the less fortunate.
Joe Louis was born in Alabama on May 13, 1914. He was the son of an Alabama sharecropper, the great grandson of a slave, and the great great grandson of a white slave owner.
The grandson of a slave, Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia; he was the youngest of five children. Jackie grew up very poor, but little did he know that his athletic ability would open the doors for his future. After his father deserted the family when Jackie was six months old, his mother, Mallie Robinson, moved the family to California in search of work. California also subjected blacks to segregation at that time, but to less of a degree than in the Deep South. The young Jackie defused his anger over this prejudice by immersing himself in sports. He displayed extraordinary athletic skills in high school, excelling at football, basketball, baseball, and track. After helping Pasadena Junior College
Immediately as the speech begins, Henry’s tone manifests itself and remains unwavering. Henry begins, “It is natural for a man to indulge in the illustration of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth” (1). This sheds insight on his message and portrays him as a well versed individual. He then strengthens his tone when he says
“Can you live in that moment, as best as you can, with clear eyes and love in your heart? With joy in your heart? If you can do that gentlemen then you’re perfect.” Doesn't take much dose it? This speech has so much meaning and and purpose behind it.
Ethos is the easiest to identify in this speech since he is the one with the deadly disease. This qualifies him to speak on this topic because he is the one going through the event. He is speaking from his own personal experiences and this provides him the credentials for this topic. He also uses pathos. This relates back to the tone of the speech. Though most would have expected him to have a negative outlook, he was positive and optimistic. The reason that is linked to pathos is because his feeling were infectious. If someone who is dying feels content with their life, others will do the same. They will realize that if someone who is dying can still be the luckiest man alive, then someone in good health can too. And as he stated at the end of his speech, just because he had one terrible thing happen to him, does not mean that he had a terrible
Throughout his professional career, Jackie Robinson, received criticism for being the first “black” player to play the game. Not only did Jackie Robinson manage to live up to the criticism, he also changed the face of America’s greatest past time forever. With his entrance into the MLB he opened the path for great black players like Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, and Ozzie Smith just to name a few. In crossing the color-barrier in baseball Robinson not only strived as a great player on the field, but also a inspiration to the black community of the field with his humility, and willingness to move forward in a time where blacks were not considered “equal”.
It was a big courtyard, for sure, and it really did make him uneasy to hear his greetings echo against the walls as all eyes honed on him with no words. As a bead of sweat trailed its way down the left side of his face, he glanced sharply at his plan for the speech and then at his two friends who seemed to be the only two faces with genuine smiles on their faces. The contestants seemed very uninterested in his definitely not copied and pasted speech. This wasn't going to work unless he livened it up a bit, so he discarded the plan and took a deep breath.
Michael Jordan had a passion for Basketball. It was not something he did to fill up his spare time; it was a goal that he knew would be his channel to influence the world. When we follow our passion, we would paint the world in very bright colors. It is important to know that our passion is our DNA, which would be the channel through which we make a mark in our world. Michael Jordan’s passion still speaks because he has influenced many generations of young people in the game of Basketball.
Once again his overall posture and confident level was excellent. The speaker shows passion for the subject he is speaking on from the hand movements when he speaks on poverty and domestic abuse as being trivial (a means to an end). The speakers volume was just right he spoke high enough for the back of the room could here, and the speech was easy to understand. When given a speech a speaker should consider his audience in the wording of his speech, is he giving a speech to children for educational purposes or a group of college students, this is call no one left behind so the entire audience is on track.