A couple weeks ago I attended the inaugural Jimmy V New Jersey Dinner at The Brownstone in Paterson, New Jersey. Hosted by ESPN’s Bob Ley, we paid tribute to North Jersey native Dick Vitale – a longtime champion of Jim Valvano’s quest to eradicate cancer. Almost 400 people participated in the fundraiser, including special guest Notre Dame Basketball Coach Mike Brey.

Towards the end of the dinner Dick got up to talk about why he’s been so relentless in his pursuit of a cure for cancer. As always Dick delivered an impassioned and moving speech, explaining that he made a promise to his close friend Jimmy Valvano to continue to fight for cancer research after Jimmy’s death.

This was a great opportunity to honor an exceptional person who has dedicated an incredible amount of time, effort and work to help raise money throughout the country for The V Foundation for Cancer Research. It was a terrific evening, and I enjoyed seeing a lot of old friends and familiar faces from the North Jersey area among those who helped researchers get one step closer to finding a cure by coming out to support Dick and the V Foundation. Hopefully next year’s dinner will be even bigger and better.

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Photos courtesy of Richard Formica via The V Foundation for Cancer Research

Please CLICK HERE if you would like to make an online donation. The V Foundation awards 100% of all donations directly to cancer research and related programs and has awarded nearly $80 million to more than 100 facilities nationwide.