Best Of Mike & Mad Dog: Interview With Jim Valvano

NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Former North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano appeared as a guest on Mike and the Mad Dog's show after he was diagnosed with cancer.

"When you get to facing what I'm facing, you really find out the things that are important to you, the things you really love," said Valvano, a Long Island native. "And I can't deny it: I have a passion for basketball, which I've always known about, but at a point in my life, it became a business, but it's not (anymore)."

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Valvano also talked about his role as an advocate for those battling cancer, which led him to form the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

"I thought I might be able to help other people who have terminal illness, other people who maybe have just faced adversity in their lives," he said. "And so now I'm 100 percent committed to try to bring the word to the American public about cancer and cancer research and what we need."

Valvano died in 1993.

Click on the audio player above to listen to the interview.