WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina State University

Jimmy V tournament helps raise $500K in return to Triangle

Aug 16, 2009

After a two-year stint in Pinehurst, the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic returned to the Triangle on Sunday, combining celebrity sightings with fundraising for cancer research.

“It’s back home,” N.C. State head coach Sidney Lowe said during his round Sunday afternoon, “and it’s where it should be…I’m excited that N.C. State and Jimmy V are together.”

The tournament was held at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary for 13 years before moving to Pinehurst two years ago. The recent opening of the Lonnie Poole Golf Course on North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus provided an opportunity for the event to link up with the university where Jim Valvano, the tournament's namesake, achieved fame and established his legacy.

This year, the foundation has added a more "personal" touch to the marketing of its on-going fight against cancer.

"The theme that we’ve created here of making it personal – if you think about it, almost anything of real substance in life that happens, happens because someone has a real personal passion about it," said Bob Valvano, Jim's younger brother. "It touches all of us, and if you channel all of that passion in the right direction, we can win this thing."

Valvano led the N.C. State basketball team to the NCAA national championship in 1983. A decade later, his battle with cancer in which he implored people to "never, ever give up," provided the impetus for the V Foundation for Cancer Research and the annual golf tournament fundraiser.

Valvano's brother, Nick Valvano, said more than 11,000 people attended Sunday's tournament, and that over the course of the five-day event, more than $500,000 was raised for the V Foundation.

In its previous 15 years, the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic has donated approximately $14 Million to the foundation.

The event always includes a heavy dose of sports and entertainment celebrities, such as actor Dennis Haysbert of "The Unit," CBS Sports announcer Tim Brando, Carolina Hurricanes players Rod Brind’Amour, Erik Cole, Joe Corvo and Chad LaRose, ESPN anchor Stuart Scott, actress Kimberlin Brown from “The Young and the Restless” and former Miami Dolphins kicker Gary Yepremian.

From the basketball world, N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe, former Wolfpack star Terry Gannon Virginia Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg, College of Charleston basketball coach Bobby Cremins, former Duke University coach Bucky Waters and former Boston Celtics player and coach M.L. Carr participated.