# Jim Valvano

Source: https://onco.cc/people/jim-valvano/  
OnCo record `jim-valvano` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Dying of metastatic cancer, he told an audience in 1993, "Don't give up, don't ever give up," and announced a foundation that has since granted hundreds of millions of dollars to cancer research.

## Summary

Jim Valvano (1946-1993) coached North Carolina State to the 1983 NCAA basketball championship and later worked as a broadcaster. In June 1992 he was diagnosed with metastatic adenocarcinoma of unknown primary. On 4 March 1993, eight weeks before his death, he accepted the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPY Awards with a speech in which he announced The V Foundation for Cancer Research, founded with ESPN, and closed with the words that became its motto. He died on 28 April 1993 at 47. The V Foundation has since awarded more than $350 million in research grants, with a scientific advisory committee choosing recipients and all direct donations going to research.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Tags: public-figure; patient; advocate
- Role: Basketball coach whose ESPY speech founded the V Foundation for Cancer Research
- Specialisms: Cancer research funding; Public advocacy

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Valvano
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Valvano
- The V Foundation: https://www.v.org/

## Connected records

- cancers: [Cancer of unknown primary (CUP)](https://onco.cc/cancers/cancer-of-unknown-primary/)
- bottlenecks: [Funding follows fashion, not burden](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-funding-allocation/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/jim-valvano.json