There is so much passion in the world of sports and there are so many lessons to be learned from real-life sports stories. This is why I often use sports analogies and relate them to life and real estate. How often are we determined to give everything that we have until we reach the point of sheer exhaustion? How many of us look at an obstacle as a challenge rather than a barrier? How much could we learn from great sports stories and apply them to our personal and professional lives? Each person must answer these questions for themselves.
This title of this blog comes from one of the most inspirational speeches that I've ever heard, made by the late Jim Valvano (coach for the N.C. State Men's basketball team). Please click here to read or watch the speech in its entirety.
In Jim Valvano's speech, he used this poignant quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm." When the man (known to most as Jimmy V) made this speech, he was riddled with Cancer and his time on Earth was near the end. Being that this is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I thought that it would be appropriate to invoke the spirit of the great Jimmy V in a post.
Many years after his passing, the name Jimmy V is still widely known for his organization called The V Foundation for Cancer Research. While this organization doesn't focus on Breast Cancer specifically, it does focus on finding a cure for all types of Cancer. To learn more about this great man, and this philanthropic organization, please click here.
If you are any kind of sports fan, you know how much fun it is to route for the underdog. Jimmy V was the coach for one of the greatest underdog stories in sports history. As the coach of the North Carolina State Wolfpack, Jimmy V lead his team into the annual NCAA Basketball Tournament in 1983 without much fanfare for his team, and certainly no predictions of winning the championship. Jimmy V kept his team focused on winning not listening to what the prognosticators had to say.
The softening real estate market is certainly not what everyone hoped for, but succumbing to the negativity only serves to prolong the recovery. If we aren't out there on the front lines trying our best to make things happen, what will stop the consumer from buying into every media report that speaks of the demise of the housing market? You may be thinking that you're fighting an uphill battle, but again, many before us have faced odds that seemed much more insurmountable and still came out on top.
Take for example, Jimmy V's 1983 college basketball team. Their championship game win over Houston was nothing short of a David versus Goliath battle. After all, the heavily-favored Houston team featured two players that would go on to be named to the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History list.
While there is always a chance that an underdog can emerge victorious over the favorite in a one-game situation, you must examine more closely how this N.C. State team even got to the game to have the chance for the greatest upset in college basketball history, and maybe even the history of sports.
In seven of the team's last nine wins, they were losing during the final minute of the game. Brian Buffini talks about how there is a lot of losing in winning, and that winning is not always as pretty as you think it is going to be. No coach plans on pulling out last-minute victories as a realistic strategy. However, if you prepare your players to exhibit grace under pressure, the chance of success grows by leaps and bounds.
The wins that this team was able to squeeze out were all needed to earn them one of the 64 invitations to the NCAA tournament. These storybook wins were achieved during the same season in which the team lost back-to-back games by an 18-point margin to lesser teams, and also suffered a mid-season collapse that saw them lose six out of eight games.
Their journey to the tournament was quite a bumpy ride. No team with ten losses during the regular season had ever won the championship. It's easy to see where a team that struggled so hard just to make the tournament may have used up all of its collective energy in its pursuit of an invitation, but not this Jimmy V-coached team.
In the first game of the tournament, Jimmy V's team was losing by 6 points with 24 seconds to go, and pulled out the victory by pulling together as a team and refusing to quit. They had to beat the team from Virginia with another star player by the name of Ralph Sampson. N.C. State had already lost twice to the Sampson-lead Virginia team during the regular season. They also had to beat a Maryland team with a star player named Len Bias, and on top of all of these victories, they had to get past their in-state rivals UNC (University of North Carolina) which featured arguably the greatest basketball player in the history of the sport - Michael Jordan.
Think of what N.C. State had to do to get to the tournament as an agent having to interview against the top 3 agents in the area for a listing and getting the listing against all odds.
That magical 1983 season is responsible for over $60 million being raised for Cancer research. Without this incredible story of the underdog winning in dramatic fashion, Jimmy V would never have become a household name. His story would have been that of a young coach dying of Cancer before his time. It wouldn't have diminished his loss to his friends and family, but it would not have allowed this foundation to flourish the way that it has. It really makes you wonder if there was a higher meaning to this magical season than just basketball.
The coaching that Jimmy V did in that tournament is nothing short of miraculous. His small adjustments went a long way towards their unlikely victory in the championship game. To top it all off, he coached the championship game after receiving intravenous fluids to help fight the 104 degree fever that he was stricken with as a result of a bad case of the flu. As soon as the game came to a close, he couldn't even stay around to celebrate. He had to go right back to his room to rest.
Ten years after Jimmy V was at the helm of one of the most unlikely stories in sports history, he was stricken with Cancer and died shortly after. Before his passing, Jimmy V took the lemons that life threw at him and turned it into a perpetual glass of lemonade that has already benefited an untold amount of people, and will continue to do so in the future.
Perseverance, determination, dedication are words that only touch the surface of who this great man was. His legend has lived on for 14 years since his passing, and will continue to do so into the distant future.
Many agents may be tempted to leave the business because of the tougher times that we are facing. Others will simply stay and complain about the market conditions and try and lay blame wherever possible. The truly inspired agents will look at this as an opportunity to shine and live by the immortal words of Jimmy V - "DON'T GIVE UP, DON'T EVER GIVE UP!"
Great post. How often do we overlook the analogies that come via the sports world. My high school football coach used to say "football is the game of life" and he was right. But, it can go for any sport -- there are good and bad; highs and lows; and it doesn't really matter if you win or lose - but rather how you played the game that will be remembered.
And may Jimmy V. rest in peace