On February 21, 1993, NC State honored the 1983 NCAA Championship basketball team in Reynolds Coliseum.


Part 1: PA announcer CA Dillon introduces Brent Musburger and Brent kicks off the ceremony.

Part 2: Brent Musburger introduces the 1983 NC State Wolfpack team.

Part 3: Brent introduces special guests.

Part 4: Brent introduces Dick Sheridan and Sheridan gives tribute to the '83 team and Jim Valvano.

Part 5: Jim Valvano delivers the first part of his speech.

Part 6: Second half of the speech.


Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2dMXlaEzIw

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq1uDHw52bY&NR

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohXoxrwfOLo&mode=related&search=

Part 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OG7YxW6IMQ&mode=related&search=

Part 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbEt2B89ego&mode=related&search=

Part 6:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J17xhjzvZU&mode=related&search=

12/19/2006 12:32:27 AM

this is awesome but I want to experience one in my lifetime

either way, 1983 is our year.......GO PACK

12/19/2006 12:56:45 AM

maybe some time in the future will be our year too...hopefully...

12/19/2006 1:03:50 AM

thaats reeeeeeeealy weird i just watched all of that earlier today at about 6pm

12/19/2006 1:05:10 AM

Great stuff.

There's a really great CA Dillon story in the V & Me book.

12/19/2006 2:40:08 AM

I posted this in the Sidney Lowe: Immediate Impact thread but, has anyone seen that painting/mural in Ruckus of Lowe coaching with Valvano shouting with his hand on Lowe's shoulder? Pretty awesome. I wonder where they got it. Perhaps the new GoPack store?

12/19/2006 2:41:44 AM

Transcript of Jimmy V's Reynold's Speech


I’m at a loss for words. Nah, not really, not really. Either that or it’s too good to be true. I have been fortunate in my lifetime to make a lot of good decisions, some bad ones, but probably the best thing that I’ve ever done in my life was the day that I said I’ve got to do something to make sure the University of Georgia doesn’t get our football coach Dick Sheridan….(applause). Because we got, as you know as well as I do, the best football coach in America..(applause). The thing I’m most happy with is that Dick told me I don’t have to still send him the checks monthly now that everything’s been taken care of. I can’t put into words…people say to me what do I miss the most about coaching….I’m going to tell you what I miss most about not being at NC State that is…I was always able to do this next thing and get a response. And I can’t do it anymore and I know I can do it now.

In ’83 after we won the championship we came back, you remember those of you who were here in this building….I know…we had …yeah…we had about 45 million people that day in this building, and I’ve met them all. But I was able to at any time, anytime during my 10 years I could do this…I could go…(sings the melody of the NC State fight song)….(crowd shouts "GO STATE"). (Laughing)..that’s power....that’s power. I miss that....I miss that. Now when I’m in airports and when I go (starts the song again) they take me away and put me in a room. I miss that.

I’ve come a long way from in 1980 when Charlie Bryant give me my first red jacket, and I apologize for the blue, but ABC, I’ve been trying to get them to change their colors to red now for 3 years. But I haven’t been able to get that done yet….(applause). I’ve come a long ways from ’83 to…the Yankee coming here from New York and Mr. Bryant gave me my first red jacket telling me to go give a speech in Greenville and I …and he gave me my first red wolf tie with the 3 wolves and he gave me my red check pants and he said 300 people are waiting for you and you better be good because the first speech you give is going to be the one they remember. They’ll say this guy is good or they’re going to say we’ve hired the wrong fella and I flew to Greenville, SC for that speech….(applause). Gave one heck of a talk raised $32,000 in the airport in Greenville, SC. 300 members of the Wolfpack Club wondered what the heck we’ve got here....this Italian, but anyway. I had….nobody had more fun than I did in the 10 years that I was fortunate enough to be able to stand in that corner right before every game and thank God for the opportunity to coach at North Carolina State University…(applause).

Let me tell you what the ’83 team means to me, they’re special not because they put that banner up there. They’re special because they taught me and the world so many important lessons. Number 1: Hope. What does hope mean, hope that things can get better in spite of adversity. The ’83 team taught us that. When Dereck Whittenburg went down and everybody said we couldn’t and there was no way we could win and a kid named Ernie Myers stepped in and we lost a few, then we won a few, and then Dereck came back and every sports writer in America said that…I remember my favorite quote....that trees would tap dance, elephants would drive in the Indianapolis 500, and Orson Welles would skip breakfast, lunch and dinner before NC State figured out a way to win the NCAA tournament, well …(applause)…this team taught me that elephants are going to be driving in the Indianapolis 500 someday….(applause).

The ’83 team taught me about dreaming and the importance of dreams, because nothing can happen if not first a dream. If you have someone with a dream, you have a motivated person with a dream and a goal and a vision, if you have someone who never gives up, who has great hope, and that team taught me the persistence, the idea of never, ever quitting.

Don’t ever give up, don’t ever stop fighting!

And the ’83 team gave you hope, gave you pride, told you what hard work was about. It gave you the meaning of believing in a cause, and lastly what they taught me, which is so important…is to love each other. We don’t talk enough about that in sports, but I can’t tell you …If you ask me what was said along the line, as we went down the road, and the word love was used. Most of the time. As in coach, I love you. And me, Thurl, I love ya. And Terry, I love ya. And Whitt, I love ya. They taught me what love means. When you have a goal, when you have a dream, and when you have a belief, and you throw in that concept of never stop believing and loving in each other, and you can accomplish miracles. And that’s what the ’83 team taught. …(applause). Today I fight a different battle. You see I have trouble walking, and I do. And I have trouble standing for long periods of time, and I do. Cancer has taken away a lot of my physical abilities. I can’t run over and yell at John Monroe, the referee, like I want to right now….(applause). I can’t do the back flip I like to do with our world class cheerleaders, I can’t do those things…(applause). What cancer can not touch, is my mind, my heart, and my soul. It can’t touch those 3 things….(applause). And when people talk about the value of sports and of athletics, remember those things. Because the things that I’ve learned from my basketball team, not just in ’83, but every year. The things they taught me were those things I just spoke of, and the things that try to keep me going right now.

I have hope that maybe things can get better for me. I have faith in God and in my fellow man that things might get better for me. And I have tremendous love for all of the people who care about me and my family. The thing I miss the most is that I miss the Dick Sheridans and the Charlie Bryants and I miss working with Brent when I can’t and I miss all of you people who write and care and say in such a special way…Jimmy V....don’t give up. (Crowd chants "Don’t give up".).

And one final comment, and that is about the man right there…Mr. Les Robinson. It’s always easy to stick by people, to love them and to care about them when times are good and people did that with me. When times get bad, the true friends and the true supporters stick by you. I want you all to know, from one coach to another, that Les Robinson is going to hang his own banner up here in couple of years. And Coach Sheridan is going to hang his ACC and national championship banner. How do I know that? It’s because, I know what hope and what faith and what belief and what hard work and good people can do. That's what I learned from coaching for 23 years and it’s going to happen all here again. And I promise you, I will never give up my fight. And I’m going to be here to see those things happen to my friends.

And if by chance, the Lord wants me, he’s going to get the best damn broadcaster and ex-basketball coach that they’ve ever had up there, I’ll tell you that…(applause). One time…(sings the melody of the State fight song). (Crowds shouts, "GO STATE"). Thank you and God bless you, everybody.

12/19/2006 3:35:43 AM

Thanks for the links, did you just find this or are you the guy that posted it?

If the latter, any chance a non-YouTube version could be made available? YouTube sucks.

12/19/2006 6:18:25 AM

I just found them. I just decided to do a search for Jim Valvano, and discovered that that guy, hutchtv, had posted these fairly recently.

12/19/2006 6:27:34 AM

Quote :

"maybe some time in the future will be our year too...hopefully..."

People have been saying this for more than two decades now. It gets more depressing each year.

12/19/2006 8:23:28 AM

who did State play that night?

12/19/2006 8:37:03 AM

It was an afternoon game, and I think the opponent was Duke.

12/19/2006 10:03:30 AM

i was at the game. duke won.

12/19/2006 10:49:58 AM

one of my first memories i have of the wolfpack in reynolds. i was about 8 years old. i'll never forget it. i'm pretty sure it was the duke team with grant hill, thomas hill, hurley, etc.


damn, now that i think about it. that video was taken pretty close to where our seats were at in reynolds. Section 11 up at the top near the windows that you could open and let some cool breeze in during those hot nights.

[Edited on December 19, 2006 at 11:23 AM. Reason : 1]

12/19/2006 11:19:27 AM

yep, hurley, grant hill, thomas hill, cherokee parks. i specifically remember a few Hurley to Hill alley-oops.

12/19/2006 12:26:36 PM

Very powerful and touching speech. At least we have a strong past and good accomplishments to look back on, a lot of schools don't even have that. The one year UVA was poised to potentially take a National Title was the year we came out of nowhere and stopped them twice. We beat them in the ACC Tournament 81-78, thus making it into the NCAA Tournament and then beat them again in the Elite Eight 63-62, to continue on and do the impossible, stop Houston's Phi Slamma Jamma in the National Championship. Of course I want it to happen again, but it is good to be part of something that was great in the past, and has great potential for the future.

12/19/2006 5:34:05 PM