Jimmy Valvano Video: Relive Jimmy V's Inspirational Speech from 1993 ESPYs

These days, there doesn't seem to be any real point in watching the ESPYs. Like all awards shows, the ESPYs are essentially just an excuse for famous people to dress up for the cameras, and the whole thing is really nothing more than an overhyped popularity contest.

But way back in 1993, the year the ESPYs first arrived on the scene, it looked like ESPN had something special.

This was entirely thanks to the incredible speech delivered by Jim Valvano, who was the first-ever recipient of the Arther Ashe Courage Award.

Clearly on the losing end of a lengthy battle with bone cancer, Valvano addressed the audience for more than 10 minutes, and he ended up giving the sports world a speech it would not soon forget.

One of the great college basketball coaches of all time, Valvano offered up a full rundown of his life as a coach, but the truly memorable parts were his pointers on life itself.

To get through each day, Valvano said there are three things a person must do:

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"To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

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To make the best of one's life, though, the late N.C. State coach made it clear that one needs a little something else besides laughter, thought and emotion.

To put it simply, you have to care to make something of your life.

"How do you go from where you are to where you want to be?" he said. "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."

While he was speaking these truths, Valvano made no effort to dodge the fact that his time on earth was short. But as if to show he was more than capable of practicing what he was preaching, he laughed about it, at one point joking that he could care less about the teleprompter telling him that he only had 30 seconds left to speak.

But while he had the stage, Valvano made sure to get the message out about the V Foundation for Cancer Research. The foundation's motto still stands, and it is also the one part of Jimmy V's speech you hear most often:

"Don't give up, don't ever give up."

Before he left the stage, Valvano told his audience there were three things that cancer could not destroy:

"Cancer can take away all my physical abilities," he said. "It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever."

Less than two months later, Valvano passed away. But time has proven him wise.

Nearly 20 years have gone by since he delivered his speech, yet Jimmy V's true essence is alive and well.

So are his words, and they will be as long as we keep them in mind.