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The 2025 edition of Jimmy V Week began Tuesday with a surreal comeback win over No. 10 BYU after the team came back from a 22-point deficit before the last two national champions in UConn and Florida took the court at Madison Square Garden.
However, during halftime of the games, four fan bases gathered to watch Jim Valvano’s famous ESPYs speech in awe.
The laughter and applause from the audience was as if the fans were watching the speech for the first time, but it just goes to show how magical the speech really is.
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North Carolina State head coach Jim Valvano celebrates his team’s victory over Houston in the 1983 Final Four. (Malcolm Emmons/USA Today Sports / IMAGN)
That Night, Valvano’s “V Cancer Research Foundation” was born and since then it has raised more than $250 million for cancer research.
Greer joined the V Foundation for Cancer Research in 2022 after leading her own cancer research laboratory and working at the American Cancer Society. After completing her fellowship at the University of North Carolina, she knew a lot about the former NC State head coach. Greer never met Valvano, but when she was approached about the job, she started looking into it.
“I wanted to understand what made him tick, how you could possibly use this devastating disease as your platform to start a foundation,” Greer said. “I try to carry his legacy as much as possible.”
She does this by watching Valvano’s speech every Monday.
Greer also said she sees a “direct correlation” between sports and its role in science.
North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano smiles during a game against North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on January 20, 1989. (Manny Millan/Sport Illustrated via / Getty Images)
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“Sports is all about teamwork, it’s about no individual being more important than any other individual on your team. And think about Jim’s amazing ride to victory with NC State. It was a hope and a prayer, but there was a faith to get there. That’s exactly what’s happening here. Scientists don’t work in isolation, we’re on teams together. I mean, so much of what we do doesn’t work, right? We’re pushing for really insurmountable adversity, but we’re thinking together as a team. Science and sports I have this beautiful connection and I’ve enjoyed it.”
Also coinciding with Jimmy V Week is the release of ESPN’s 30 for 30 on Stuart Scott, aptly titled “Boo Yah.” Scott died of cancer in 2015, months after receiving the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the ESPYs. The documentary’s director, Andre Gaines, will attend the V Gala for the third year in a row on Wednesday night and noticed some “parallels” between Scott and Valvano during the making of the film, largely because both of their famous speeches seemed almost like farewells.
But Gaines said fans will laugh, think and cry while watching the films — which is exactly what Valvano famously claimed was a “great day.”
An aerial photo shows head coach Jim Valvano’s victory, with a net around his neck and his arm around Derek Whittenberg, after winning the national championship vs. Houston. (Rich Clarkson/Sport Illustrated via / Getty Images)
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“Fans can expect to be inspired and really see what perseverance looks like in human form from a man who broke barriers,” Gaines said.
The end goal of the V Foundation for Cancer Research is of course to find a cure. In order to do that, however, Greer said everyone at the foundation must adhere to Valvano’s core motto.
“We will never give up.”
