Jim Valvano elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Legendary former NC State basketball coach Jim Valvano has been selected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The announcement was made Saturday morning.
Valvano coached at NC State from 1981-90, compiling a 209-110 record overall in that span, including a 71-69 mark in the ACC during what was considered a golden era for the league in college basketball.
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Valvano is most famous for the Cinderella run of the 1983 NC State basketball team, which became better known as the Cardiac Pack, to the NCAA title, defeating a Houston squad with two Hall of Famers on the Cougars’ roster in center Hakeem Olajuwon and wing Clyde Drexler.
The Wolfpack, heavy underdogs against the high-flying, athletic “Phi Slama Jama,” stunned Houston at the buzzer on a dunk by the late Lorenzo Charles.
Valvano also led NC State to a pair of ACC Tournament titles — 1983 and 1987 — and the Wolfpack reached the Elite Eight in 1985 and 1986. In his final appearance at the NCAA Tournament, Valvano’s team reached the Sweet 16 before a controversial loss to Georgetown.
His teams won at least 20 games in seven of Valvano’s 10 seasons in Raleigh and was invited to the Big Dance seven times.
Counting prior stops at John Hopkins, Bucknell and Iona, Valvano went 346-210 over 19 seasons of coaching. He twice led Iona to the NCAA Tournament.
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After being forced out at NC State for off the court reasons, Valvano became a popular broadcaster. He then famously and publicly battled cancer before succumbing to the disease in 1993, 10 years after leading NC State basketball to the national title.
Valvano delivered a memorable speech in his return to historic Reynolds Coliseum to celebrate the 1983 team, and then again at the first ever ESPY Awards on ESPN, and in the latter he announced the formation of the Jimmy V Foundation that has been a celebrated leader in raising money for cancer research.
Since 1993, the foundation has awarded over $310 million in grants for the cause.
Jim Valvano joins former NC State coaches Everett Case and Kay Yow in the Hall of Fame.
Case went 377-134 at NC State from 1947-64, including 176-70 combined in the Southern Conference and the ACC. He reached the Final Four in 1954 and won 10 conference tournaments.
Yow compiled 737 wins during her 38-year career, 34 of which were at NC State. She led the women’s Pack to the 1998 Final Four and won four ACC Tournament titles. Yow’s teams also reached the Sweet 16 on 10 occasions, and she was the head coach of the gold medal-winning Team USA women’s squad in the 1998 Olympics.
Former players in the Hall of Fame include David Thompson, considered by many to be the greatest college basketball player of all time.
