Former NBA star Thurl Bailey has praised the impact Jim Valvano had on his career, saying that his coaching methods were well ahead of his time.
Valvano’s role in leading North Carolina State University to an unlikely victory in the 1983 NCAA Division I men’s basketball is undoubtedly one of the most inspirational stories of all-time.
During a recent interview with Betway Insider, Bailey explained how Valvano laid the foundations for success after the departure of the previous coach.
“He walks in there and talks about how he’s going to win the national championship, and if he can get us to see what he’s seeing and dream what we he’s been dreaming, then it could be possible,” he said.
“That’s how he sold it to us. We all stayed, and it took us a couple of years, but the thing I can say about coach Valvano was he always walked the walk. He didn’t just talk it, he believed it, and he made you believe it.”
Bailey says the team took a while to adapt to Valvano’s unique coaching style, with one early practice session involving a ladder and a pair of scissors.
Valvano instructed the team to visual the ritual of cutting down the nets after winning the national championship, forcing them to take an inward look at themselves.
Bailey described the session as ‘awkward’, but acknowledges that it was a key building block in helping the team fulfil its potential.
“It took us a few times to really get into it, but he wanted us to project ourselves into a national championship because he thought it would give us a sense of bringing us closer to the goal,” added Bailey.
“The reality was that nobody else was doing anything like that. It was so unusual and unorthodox. I’m not sure anybody still does it. He was a visionary for sure.”
Valvano became a broadcaster for ESPN and ABC Sports after his coaching career ended, before being diagnosed with metastatic adenocarcinoma in June 1992.
He subsequently delivered a motivational speech at NC State’s Reynolds Coliseum, less than 10 weeks before his death, during the 10-year commemoration of the 1983 NCAA championship.
Despite his illness, Valvano stressed the importance of hope, love and persistence, and included his famous “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up” quotation.
He repeated the words a few days later during an iconic speech at the first ESPY Awards at Madison Square Garden, where he announced the creation of The V Foundation for Cancer Research.
With the teleprompter telling Valvano he was out of time, he proceeded to deliver inspirational words that were a true measure of his indefatigable character.
He urged people to make sure they did three things each day – to laugh, to think and to cry – describing those emotions as comprising ‘a heck of a day’.
For Bailey, memories of his former coach are still strong, despite the time that has past since Valvano’s untimely death in April 1993.
“Jim Valvano was able to get us to understand and believe that we could achieve something great,” said Bailey. “That kind of story doesn’t happen, especially in sports, all the time.
“I think it’s a great kind of a microcosm of life, that there’s so much we can do together when we have belief in each other, and we have someone that believes in us.”