Jamie Valvano remembers her father being gently being carried down the steps and back to his seat that March night in 1993. Dying of cancer, Jim Valvano had given a speech at ESPN’s first ESPY ceremony that left everyone in awe, in tears.
“We didn’t think he’d be able to make it to the award show, he was so sick,” she said. “He didn’t prepare at all. Then he got up and gave the speech he was born to give, poured everything out, left it on the stage.”