As Jim Valvano enters Hall of Fame, his legacy has distinctly Rutgers fingerprints

Mike Krzyzewski stepped to a microphone in Napa Valley last weekend and delivered what probably was his most important speech since his retirement in 2022 as Duke’s basketball coach.

This was during the V Foundation for Cancer Research’s marquee fundraiser – an annual “wine celebration” and auction. The event’s timing was poignant, coming just a week before V Foundation founder Jim Valvano’s posthumous induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The audience was filled with big donors.

“Right before the auction, Mike got up and said, ‘OK, I’m going to give you a locker-room talk,’” said V Foundation chairman emeritus Bob Lloyd, who was Valvano’s collegiate backcourt mate at Rutgers in the mid-1960s. “He said, ‘I’m going to talk to you just like I talk to my players when I’m getting them ready for the second half – and you (expletives) better be ready.’”

With that, Krzyzewski had everyone's rapt attention.

“Mike just knocked it out of the park,” Lloyd said.

The event raised $21 million for cancer research.

“Jimmy V” will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame this weekend in Springfield, Massachusetts as a contributor. His contributions are part of the sport’s gospel. He coached N.C. State to an iconic upset of Houston in the 1983 NCAA Tournament final, ushering in March Madness as we know it. As he fought cancer, he exhorted the world to “don’t ever give up” in one of the most widely replayed speeches ever. Every time you hear “survive and advance,” someone is channeling Valvano, who coined the phrase.

But his most impactful legacy is the V Foundation, which has given more than $300 million to cancer research – and has distinctly Rutgers fingerprints on it. Lloyd, who was a consensus All-American with the Scarlet Knights in 1967, was the founding chairman in 1993 and served 21 years in that role. He and his wife Kay launched the wine celebration 25 years ago, and last weekend Krzyzewski presented them with a lifetime achievement plaque.

The Lloyds helped establish an advisory board of oncologists that decides where the funds go, and every year those doctors remind him how crucial the foundation is.

“I woke up every day for 21 years saying, ‘How are we going to keep this going?’” Lloyd said. “I’ll tear up saying this: I would have never thought when we started it that we could get to this point. It’s a major player in cancer research and that’s gratifying.”

Recruiting Dick Vitale

A year or two after the V Foundation launched, Lloyd recruited Dick Vitale to join its governing board. Vitale got his start in college ball as a Rutgers assistant coach (hired by Lloyd’s brother Dick) and was close with Valvano. By 1993, Vitale was a household name for his work on ESPN, but during his first board meeting, the Jersey native’s exuberant shtick was nowhere to be seen.

“We’re talking cash flows, balance sheets and strategic planning, and Dick was silent the entire meeting,” Lloyd said. “We walk out and Dick says, “Bobby, Bobby, balance sheets and cash flow – are you kidding me? I don’t understand all that stuff! Can I just stay on the board and raise a lot of money?’”

Lloyd replied, “How much money is a lot?”

“Dick said, ‘At least a million a year.’

“I said, ‘Don’t ever show up to a meeting again.’"

He never did.

“Dick has raised $35 million for the V Foundation for pediatric cancer research,” Lloyd said.

It’s not lost on anyone at the foundation that Vitale is waging a very public battle against vocal-cord cancer as Valvano enters the Hall of Fame. But with all the advances in treatment over the past 30 years, his odds are better than they would have been in 1993.

What would Valvano say about $300 million for cancer research raised in his name?

“He would say, ‘It’s not enough,’” Lloyd said. “That’s the way he would think.”

Lloyd would know.

The Rutgers influence

During 1964-65 season, when Lloyd and Valvano were sophomores, Valvano averaged 10.6 points and shot 50 percent from the field as Rutgers’ point guard. They didn’t record assists back then, but Lloyd averaged 25 points and was on the receiving end of many Valvano passes.

Head coach Bill Foster was not impressed. Old-school, flat-topped and regimented, with practice plans written out on index cards, Foster wanted more discipline out of his flamboyant playmaker.

“At the end of the year, Coach Foster said, “Jimmy, you were not very good this year. You had better work on your game,’” Lloyd said. “Jimmy said, ‘How could he say that to me?’ He was already a really good player. But what did Jimmy do? Jimmy worked on it hard – and he came to idolize Bill Foster.”

As a senior, Valvano averaged 18 points and shot 52 percent. He and Lloyd (28 points per game) led the Scarlet Knights to 22 wins and a berth in the NIT semifinals, back when that was still a big deal. Their opponent in the semis was Southern Illinois and its dazzling point guard, future Knicks legend Walt Frazier. There were 18,000 fans at Madison Square Garden. Foster preached calm; Rutgers was used to playing before 3,000 people at the College Avenue Gym.

“At the end of the (pregame) huddle Coach Foster said, ‘Just go out and be loosey-goosey,’” Lloyd said. “Jim had this look on his face, and calls me over and says, ‘Bob, you be loosey-goosey; I’ll be ducky-wucky.’”

It cracked Lloyd up. Playing fast and loose, he and Valvano torched Frazier’s defense in the first half, but Southern Illinois switched to a triangle-and-2 zone during the break and prevailed 79-70. Valvano finished with 25 points. Foster was impressed enough with his development to hire him to coach Rutgers’ freshman team after graduation.

“Bill was very organized, very methodical, which was the antithesis of Jim – but Jim took those skills that Bill gave him and applied it to his personality to become the great coach that he was,” Lloyd said. “I would say Jimmy was tremendously influenced by Bill Foster.”

'Jimmy will change the game'

Before the 1983 NCAA title game, Valvano was intent on going full ducky-wucky.

“Everyone thinks we’re going to hold the ball,” he told his players as recounted by Lloyd, who heard the story from former Wolfpack guard Terry Gannon. “I didn’t work this hard to get in front of millions of people and hold the ball. We’re going to run with them.”

After Houston jumped out to an early lead, Valvano channeled his inner Bill Foster.

“Cancel that,” he said in the huddle. “We’re going to hold the ball.”

N.C. State won 54-52.

Lloyd, who splits time between California and Hawaii, has been waiting for Springfield to call Jimmy V’s name. In the meantime, he’s carried on his friend's legacy to the tune of $300 million and counting.

“Obviously very proud,” Lloyd said of the enshrinement. “When Jimmy first went into coaching with the Rutgers freshmen, someone asked me, ‘What kind of coach will he be?’ I said, ‘Jimmy will change the game. Someday, he will be in the Hall of Fame.’”

That day has arrived.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jim Valvano's Hall of Fame legacy has Rutgers stamp