To Our Readers

During his varied career as an actor, Anthony LaPaglia, 36, says he has never gone one-on-one with a character as challenging as Jim Valvano. "It was intimidating. Valvano was complex, controversial and so energetic that it was exhausting trying to keep up," admits LaPaglia, who nevertheless does V to a T in the Warner Bros. Television and Sports Illustrated Television (SITV) production Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story. The film follows the life of the late North Carolina State basketball coach turned broadcaster from the heady days of the Wolfpack's Cinderella victory in the 1983 NCAA championship, through the scandals that drove Valvano from N.C. State in '90, to his gallant fight against the cancer that finally killed him in April '93. It will air on CBS next Tuesday evening, April 2—fittingly, the night after the NCAA title game.

This is the first made-for-television movie presented by SITV, the in-house group we formed in 1994 to help bring SI to television. Never Give Up grew out of a January 1993 SI cover story by senior writer Gary Smith on Valvano's battle with cancer. "We looked for a story that could be taken from the pages of the magazine and transformed into compelling television," says SITV president Ted Shaker. "The Valvano story was an obvious choice. It has an emotional reach that transcends sports."

That was clear on Valentine's Day in Raleigh when the cast and crew assembled at N.C. State for a climactic shoot in Reynolds Coliseum. There, before a cheering crowd of 300 red-clad student extras and eight members of the 1983 Wolfpack team, who played themselves, LaPaglia re-created a dying Valvano's emotional appearance at a 10th-year reunion of the '83 team. Again and again for the cameras LaPaglia delivered V's celebrated never-give-up speech. For Pam Valvano, Jim's widow, who was on hand that night and who worked closely with the cast and producers on the 14-month project, it was a bittersweet moment. As she watched LaPaglia waving to the crowd, she said, "Knowing how much Jim loved to be in the spotlight, I'm sure this would have meant a lot to him."