Don't Give Up: Pediatric Cancer Patients Recite Iconic Jimmy V Speech

In March of 1993, less than two months before he died of cancer, college basketball coach Jim Valvano gave one of the most inspirational speeches of all time at the ESPN ESPY Awards

Sports fans now know it as simply "the Jimmy V speech," but you could put Valvano's words up against anyone else's — sports or otherwise — in the pantheon of testaments to wringing every last drop of pleasure from life

"Don't give up. Don't ever give up," Valvano implored the crowd at that year's ESPY awards, in addition to millions more YouTube viewers in the decades since. His speech — alternately hilarious and heartbreaking — also included this three-part bit of transcendent advice: Read more...