Keith Amaral, Fall 2009
The cancer epidemic is undeniably one of the biggest exigencies the world currently faces; statistics show that it is a leading cause of death in the United States (“Cancer”). Though progress has been made in the fight to end cancer, the cure remains elusive. While there are many champions for the cause, Jim Valvano is remembered by many, especially those involved in the sporting world, as one of the cause’s premiere warriors. Valvano, a successful college basketball coach and commentator/analyst, died of cancer in 1993, but has nonetheless left an enduring legacy through his cancer research foundation and his unforgettable Arthur Ashe Courage Award acceptance speech at ESPN’s ’93 ESPY award ceremony. More than just a simple acceptance speech, Valvano takes advantage of his kairos to further his goals of improved cancer awareness and research—his Jimmy V Foundation serving as the vehicle—and he does this through a series of appeals made potent through the style and delivery he employs.
ESPN’s Arthur Ashe Courage Award is a televised honor bestowed annually since 1993 to an individual whose accomplishments transcend sport (Carney), so there is no better occasion for Jim Valvano to set forth his agenda. Rhetorically speaking, Valvano understands his kairos, or the moment most conducive for him to have an impact (Crowley and Hawhee 38), is when he takes the stage and the sports world collectively casts their eyes and ears on him. This scenario is given further credence considering the 1993 ESPY Awards is not only the first appearance of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award; it is also the first appearance of the ESPY Awards as a whole. In this regard, one should assume that Valvano is aware of the opportunity this new televised awards ceremony affords him; many people will tune in just based on the premise of curiosity surrounding this new event.
The timing of Valvano’s speech has further importance when one realizes this acceptance speech takes place in the early 1990s, a period when the nation becomes fixated on the AIDS epidemic; this fixation indirectly takes attention away from cancer, and as a result, the lack of attention the nation devotes to cancer with the raging AIDS epidemic in effect becomes an exigence for Valvano; an exigence within the rhetorical situation is any societal defect a rhetor hopes to change through his/her discourse (Bitzer 5). As far as the realm of sport is concerned, the early 1990s is known as the point of time when NBA legend Magic Johnson reveals his HIV positive status to the world; Johnson’s revelation happens in 1991, two years prior to Jim Valvano’s speech (Sternberg). Though Valvano does not specifically refer to Johnson, he does reference the heightened sensitivity to AIDS by stating, “[The money pouring in for AIDS research is] ten times the amount that goes in for cancer research.” By making this statement, Valvano is attempting to focus the spotlight back on cancer and the battle for a cure.
This shifting of the spotlight requires tact since it could potentially lead to a constraint in the form of alienating AIDS activists, sympathizers, and sufferers; taking this into account, Jim Valvano words his speech wisely. Considering a rhetorical constraint is essentially any barrier, tangible or intangible, which could hinder a rhetor’s goal (Bitzer 6), the rhetor must try the best he/she can to account for it in his/her discourse. In Jim Valvano’s case, he must be wary of the attitudes of those who would view his speech as offensive, and by prefacing his statement regarding AIDS fund raising vs. cancer fund raising with “…the amount of money pouring in for AIDS is not enough…,” Valvano is smartly seeking to avoid any statements that could be damaging by offering a disclaimer; he is not attempting to downplay the need for AIDS research. His comparison is being used strictly to point out how much more attention is needed in the realm of cancer research.
This call for attention is an aspect of logos, or an appeal to his audience’s logic (Crowley and Hawhee 133). When any rhetor is seeking to move an audience based on creating a logical argument, they must back up their potentially controversial claim with data that supports it; the only way a rhetor can be successful is if they effectively link the data to the claim, otherwise the argument is flimsy. This strategy is known in the field of rhetoric as the Toulmin Model (Fahnestock and Secor 20). Valvano’s essentially making the claim that cancer research needs more attention: “I need your help. We need money for research.” To support his claim, he delivers uncontroversial facts and statistics: “…I’ll…tell you that one in every four [people] will be afflicted with this disease, and yet, somehow, we seem to have put it in a little bit of a background.” Without these undeniable statistics, Valvano’s argument becomes baseless.
While providing statistics to support his claim gives him a strong logical platform, Valvano is also maintaining a strong ethos by doing his homework on the issue. Without maintaining or inventing good ethos, otherwise known as an honorable character (Crowley and Hawhee 163), a rhetor cannot hope to be successful in moving an audience to act; people are not likely to follow the lead of someone they do not respect. Valvano’s ethos is also helped considerably given the very nature of the occasion; he is the recipient of a humanitarian award. Tennis champion Arthur Ashe, the award’s inspiration and namesake, was one of the sporting world’s premiere social activists. By Valvano accepting the Ashe award, his name is becoming linked with an historical sports icon. As a result, if the audience was not previously aware of Valvano—possibly because they do not follow college basketball—they will instantly respect Valvano based on the award that he is receiving and who his name is being grouped with.
Jim Valvano attempts to further establish his good ethos through his name-dropping; in his speech, he states, “I rode on the plane up today with Mike Krzyzewski, my good friend and a wonderful coach.” By making this choice in his speech, Valvano is showcasing his respected professional standing among his peers. Furthermore, Valvano goes on to declare his idol is Vince Lombardi, a football coaching legend and the man the Super Bowl trophy is named after. In referencing the football coaching icon, Valvano is stepping out from the realm of basketball and attempting to appeal to other types of sports fans. Football fans watching this speech will instantly recognize Lombardi, and through Valvano declaring Lombardi as an inspiration, those fans will be more willing to value Valvano’s ideas. Another important choice Valvano makes in effectively utilizing ethos is referencing his family. Jim states, “I talked about my family, my family’s so important. People think I have courage. The courage [is] my family.” Not only does Valvano establish himself as a respected professional, he establishes himself as someone with strong family values. All of this adds to Valvano’s ethos in the audience’s eyes, which directly has an impact in how they react to his overall agenda to improve cancer awareness.
Jim Valvano’s use of pathos, or emotion-based appeals to the audience (Crowley and Hawhee 205), is by far the most effective form of appeal in his speech. What Valvano essentially does is take his audience on an emotional roller coaster ride filled with some laughs mixed in with some tears. Valvano is very witty, making light of his situation with a reference to his speech’s time constraint: “I got tumors all over my body. I’m not worried about some guy in the back going thirty seconds, huh?” Not completely willing to poke fun at his situation, Valvano starts his speech with “Time is very precious to me [and] I don’t know how much I have left…” Statements like these incite a sentiment of empathy towards Jim and influence a desire to support his cause. He ends his speech stating, “Cancer can take away all my physical ability. 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. I thank you and God bless you all.” This ending perfectly exemplifies just how much emphasis is placed on pathos is in this speech.
Jim Valvano’s emotional appeals, and speech as a whole, would be useless if his style and delivery are neither effective nor appropriate for the occasion; realizing this, Jim’s style and delivery is spot on. Crowley and Hawhee state, “The achievement of an appropriate style requires rhetors to pay attention to the conventional rules for verbal behavior in a given context, rules that have been laid down by their culture” (283). In terms of an award ceremony, recipients of awards are typically expected to be gracious and humble, giving thanks to those responsible for the honor. Valvano is very gracious throughout his speech, from acknowledging ESPN and his family, to speaking of how much of an honor it is to be mentioned in the same breath as Arthur Ashe. Considering these awards are sports and entertainment based, it is also expected that the speeches should be sufficiently entertaining; Valvano, through his jokes, accomplishes this as well.
Beyond his jokes, Valvano’s style is conversational and not all that formal, which lends itself well to the event; he even states that he is not reading off cue cards at the start of his speech. This allows his audience to feel more connected to him. Another example of just how informal and unrehearsed Jim’s speech is can be witnessed on the occasion when he spontaneously asks legendary football coach Lou Holtz questions from the podium: “What was it like, the very first job you had, right?” The sketchy grammar in that question also highlights the down to earth tone that Valvano utilizes. Not just content with being anecdotal, Jim uses a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, “Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm.” In this respect, Valvano injects his speech with a philosophical and poetic component. Adding to the poetic quality of the speech, probably the most memorable statement Valvano makes is “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up,” as it is a sound bite utilized frequently to the present day. As far as delivery goes, Valvano’s movements are animated and his pacing is sometimes very fast. This combination of formal and anecdotal style elements combined with an animated delivery works well in entertaining, inspiring, and potentially moving the audience to action.
After examination of Jim Valvano’s ESPY speech, it is no surprise why it is remembered as one of the most effective award acceptance speeches in history. Valvano utilizes the occasion and takes advantage of his situation and natural charisma to construct a speech that audiences cannot help but be emotionally moved by. What he essentially did was take a tragic event in his life and turn it into a window of opportunity, basically making his cancer diagnosis a form of kairos—a chance to make an important societal change. Considering the V Foundation has raised over eighty million dollars for cancer research, Valvano took full advantage of that chance.
Works Cited
Bitzer, Lloyd F. Philosophy and Rhetoric. Volume 1. 1968. Pp 1-14.
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Carney, Shane. “The History of the ESPY Awards on ESPN.” Associated Content. 19
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Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004.
Fahnestock, Jeanne, and Marie Secor. A Rhetoric of Argument: Brief Edition. 3rd ed.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
Sternberg, Steve. “Magic Johnson Combats AIDS Misperceptions.” USA Today. 01 Dec
2006. USA Today. 12 May 2009 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-30-magic-aids_x.htm>.