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Jim Valvano headlines first NC State HOF class

Rob Lowe, Eric LeGrand

Rob Lowe, left, presents paralyzed Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand with the award for perseverance while an image of Jim Valvano is projected on at the ESPY Awards on Wednesday, July 11, 2012, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

JOHN SHEARER/INVISION/AP

It could not have gone any other way.

If North Carolina State was going to open up a Hall of Fame, Jim Valvano had to be in the inaugural class. Anything else would have been an outrage.

Valvano is, indeed, headlining the group going into the newly-minted N.C. State Athletics Hall of Fame on October 5. The ceremony will take place at Reynolds Coliseum, a place once known as “Jim’s Gym.”

The list of inductees is basketball-heavy, with legendary former Wolfpack head coach Everett Case and superstar player David Thompson taking their rightful places alongside women’s coach Kay Yow and player Genia Beasley.

The Charlotte Observer was able to get some good reaction quotes from Valvano’s older brother, Nick:

“He would have been incredibly honored, but he would not have been speechless,” said Nick Valvano, Jim’s older brother.

“A big honor for Jim is to hear other coaches talk about the kind of bench coach he was, how well-prepared he was,” Nick Valvano said. “If you’re a coach it’s certainly about the wins and losses. But it’s also about how your players mature as people and the lives they lead.

“Look at Jim’s players. By and large, they turned out well, didn’t they?”


Quite aside from being a charismatic man and a great basketball coach, Valvano’s legacy has grown since his death from cancer. The Jimmy V-NC State Cancer Therapeutics Training Program was created in Raleigh in 2008, and the Jimmy V foundation annually raises millions for cancer research and awareness.