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Birth
Jim Valvano (left) was born on March 10, 1946 to Rocco and Angelina Valvano in Queens, New York. He was the middle child to his brothers NIck (right) and Bob. -
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Rutgers Basketball Career
Jim Valvano played Rutgers basketball for three seasons. His senior year he led the Scarlet Knights to a 3rd place finish in the NIT tournament. He was also named Senior Athlete of the Year. He is currenty the 21st highest scorer for his career with 1,122 points. -
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Coaching Career
Valvano's coaching career lasted 23 years. He coached as an assisstant at Rutgers and UConn, and as a head coach at John Hopkins, Bucknell, Iona, and NC State -
Hired as NC State Head Coach
After NC State's previous head coach, Norm Sloan, left for the same position at Florida, NC State made a surprise move by hiring an unknown coach named Jim Valvano. From his first practice, he inspired and motivated his players to greater hights than they ever thought. -
National Championship
North Carolina State, led by Jim Valvano, capped of its Cinderella run in the 1983 NCAA tournament by beating the number 1 team, Houston, in the final by a score of 64-62. -
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NC State Athletic Director
Jim Valvano was named the Atheltic Director in 1986, and he held that position until he stepped down in 1989 after receiving much public scrutiny for allegations made in a book, but proven wrong by the NCAA. The NCAA did find other violations during its investigation and NC State received some punishment for it. -
SIgned with ESPN as Commentator/Analyst
In 1990, Jim Valvano signed a deal with ESPN to be a Commentator/Analyst for College Basketball. In 1992, Jim received the Cable ACE Award for Commentator/Analyst for NCAA Basketball broadcasts. Even as he ws battling cancer, Jim continued to do commentary for the preseason NIT in November 1992. -
ESPYs Speech
Jim Valvano accepted the inaugural Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, and gave an inspirational speech in which he announced the creation of the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. -
Death
Jim Valvano died April 28th, 1993 after battling bone cancer for over a year.
