This is just a great (too short) retrospective by Tim Peeler, who has done a truly fine job covering State across various medias over several decades.
Read it all here.
This excerpt could be considered one — of many — that sums up why Jimmy V was endeared by so many State fans.
And on coaching in the shadow of Dean Smith at North Carolina, something that grated at Sloan, Duke’s Bill Foster and others who never got to share the same spotlight as the Tar Heels Hall of Fame coach: “Shadow? I’m 34 years old, have respect for everybody, but I won’t live in anyone’s shadow. I look forward to meeting him on the court, but I’m not worried about it. And I’ll tell you one more thing—I’m going to outlive him.”
It might have been the biggest laugh line of the day.
And, in retrospect, the saddest.
*****
I was 11 when Jimmy V was tragically scapegoated by shameless opportunists in the Board of Governors, our own administration and the vitriolic local media, so my memories now of him are mostly a cloudy montage that seems to become a little clearer with every story told about him.
Those younger than me — and especially those much younger than me — know of Jimmy V only through stories.
That’s why so many of us keep telling the story.
