Putting it all into perspective:Guys and gals, I often forget that so many participants were either very young or not even born yet during Jimmy Valvano’s time. I’m going to bs for a bit about that time because, well, I guess that's what old people do. It’s hard to fathom it’s been 30 years since he burst forth onto the national scene coaching the Wolfpack to that impossible national championship. My wife and I got married in 1981 at the end of our junior year at NC State, and we were both in graduate school there in the Spring of 1983 – her in Industrial Engineering and me in Mechanical.
I recall being over on 15-501 in Durham one Friday afternoon in March of 1983, fantasy car shopping for the day when we’d be out in the real world making money, and hearing that State had beaten Wake by a point in the first game of the ACC Tournament to advance in what everyone assumed was a fluke win. The next day when they beat UNC in OT with Michael Jordon on the team and all, we all knew it was a fluke and of course would be over the next day against Virginia with Sampson. But Valvano pulled off a 3rd upset allowing NCSU into the NCAA tournament. Nobody I knew believed this was going to last another game, two at most. Nobody had yet really heard of Jimmy V except in the ACC where he was thought of as sort of an “out there” guy with a lot of charisma.
Making a long story short, over the ensuing games in the tournament where basically “everyone knew” State was a goner in the next game each step of the way (and often even with a minute left in each game), an amazing thing happened. People started to believe in the underdog, that hard work, preparation, skill, and perseverance might actually work. The inspiration that flowed from the State team and Jimmy V that year was catching and life-changing for many people, me included.
When they met up with Virginia just a short time later in the final eight, again, “everyone knew” that there was no possible way NC State could beat them (and Sampson) a second time. I was at a THSCC autocross that Sunday at the old Rocky Mount Airport, and at the trophy presentations a lot of folks were trying to move things along since the game was in progress. As I got in the car to head home, State was down by like 8 points, so “I knew” it was over. Yet again, they pulled off a miracle win by 1 point to advance to the Final Four. I was celebrating driving down US64 toward Raleigh barely able to keep the car on the road.
We lived in The Shire apartments on Gorman St about 2 miles from campus, and when they won the title game a week later, we could hear this huge and on-going roar coming from campus. We debated whether or not to head over there, but I suppose we were already fuddy-duddy old married people by then. The next morning I recall walking across the brickyard with a constant “crunch, crunch, crunch” from the broken glass littering the place. There were burned hulks of couch springs from all the furniture that was dragged out of the DH Hill library and burned in the bon fire and an overturned Dodge Polaris (or similar beast from the 70s).
What wasn’t visible though was this
amazing energy that infected everyone on campus that day and for a good while into the future. My professor I worked for (Dr Michael Boles, now a Professor Emeritus at State) and I were involved in some very trying research on a V/STOL engine inlet design for an F-15 fighter, but we approached it with a renewed vigor and enthusiasm that morning and the ensuing weeks. For me it was like a turning point that day in a way as I was really determined to figure this stuff out and reach the goals we had in front of us. Heck, after what Valvano had just accomplished with the State team, anything must be possible, right? (that was the mood at the time, and I tell ya, it was infectious beyond description -- I just have these feelings still inside me that are hard to describe but are inspiring this missive).
Jimmy Valvano continued his inspirational coaching, words and message but now people actually believed in him and paid attention to him more so than ever. The V Foundation is a fitting tribute to his legacy *especially* since it is a charity where the administration expenses are funded by a foundation grant such that 100% of donations actually go to cancer research. I just wish he was still around as I’m sure we could convince him to come out to our event...and have a blast. That we would all gather together to honor his legacy in such a fun, competitive event while donating proceeds to V Foundation is a fitting tribute to him.
Thanks to Brice and everyone else for putting together yet another great Jimmy V event! I wish I could have made it on Sunday though.
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