“You are in the Army. You’re in my Army. Every day between 3-5.” – Coach Norman Dale, “Hoosiers”
As you can tell from this blog, I’m a huge fan of quotes. Song lyrics, movie quotes, sports quotes, life quotes…whatever, I love them all. I’ve also touched on my strong belief that so much about life can be learned through sports. So to have a basketball coach give so much insight about life and achieving your dreams…I love it.
Growing up in a basketball household (my dad being a Hall of Fame basketball coach and my brother being a current basketball coach), I learned very quickly the respect that coaches deserve. When the coach talks, you listen. You don’t talk back and you do what the coach says without question, whether you agree or not. And I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I felt like I was in the Army every day during practices from 3-5 or whenever practice was that day. But just like in the Army, you understand the respect that your leaders deserve. I just love that quote…mostly because it’s from one of my favorite movies. Because of that strong respect I have for coaches, Jimmy V’s inspiring story is one I have to share.
For those who don’t know, Jim “Jimmy V” Valvano was the basketball coach at North Carolina State who was battling cancer. It was almost 20 years ago that he gave one of the greatest speeches at the ESPY Awards in 1993. At this time, he partnered with ESPN to start the V Foundation, which funds cancer research – thus, this week is known as “Jimmy V Week.” The tagline for the V Foundation is, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” Less than two months after the speech, he lost his battle with cancer.
It’s only fitting that I write about this because from this speech comes one of my all-time favorite quotes – and the quote that I used to start this blog back in July:
“How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. You have to be willing to work for it.”
And I’ll end with this one, which is how he ended the speech…pretty self-explanatory:
“I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get your emotions going. To be enthusiastic every day and as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm.’ To keep your dreams alive in spite of problems whatever you have. The ability to be able to work hard for your dreams to come true, to become a reality.”
