Bob Valvano, Jimmy V’s younger brother, has seen The Speech a thousand times. No exaggeration.
But for the first time since that March night in 1993 when a dying Jim Valvano accepted the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award and then challenged the world to beat cancer with the iconic benediction, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up,” Bob Valvano gave the exact same speech by request at a fundraiser the other day in the town where he lives, Louisville, Ky.
Two stages. Eight rock bands. A sea of sound. It all stopped when Bob Valvano started reciting the seven-minute spellbinder that has come to define one of sports’ most coveted awards.