On March 4, 1993, Jim Valvano was awarded the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award at the first annual ESPY Awards and, not long before his death to cancer, delivered one of the most memorable acceptance speeches any of us can remember, compelling one and all to follow the very advice he was giving as he was giving it.
“To me,” Valvano said, “there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears — could be happiness or joy.
“But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”
Wamba Caravan No. 89 and the good people who produce the annual Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament for the purpose of assisting the developmentally disabled have had Valvano’s something special for 49 years. And on Saturday morning and into early Saturday afternoon at the Cumberland Holiday Inn during the 6th Joe Divico Coaches Brunch, as has been the case long before ACIT chairman Joe Carter named this brunch for the late founder of the greatest high school basketball tournament in the world, good-hearted and loving folks from all walks of life, and all corners of North America gathered. And they laughed. They spent time in thought. And they cried.
It was a full day. It was a heck of a day. It was something special.
We laughed on Saturday morning because DeMatha coach Mike Jones reminded us if he weren’t such a great basketball coach, he could always make a good living doing stand-up.
“To me,” Jones said, “ACIT always stood for Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament. But based on what I’ve seen from my three fellow coaches from (the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference), they must feel it means All Calls In sight Technicals.
“I guess I’ll get one tonight, because we do stick together.”
We spent time in thought on Saturday morning, because we are faced with very difficult and trying times. But when we looked around the room we came to understand that we will come through these hard times just fine, thank you, because despite our troubles, there are people in the world who are still going to help and aid those who are unable to help and aid themselves.
“The Alhambra,” said O’Connell coach Joe Wootten, “is the best example of a team I can give my players, because all of the people of the Alhambra work together for a bigger cause.”
As Carter said in his remarks in discussing the mission of Wamba Caravan, “In following the tradition established by Joe Divico, I close by saying, ‘If you can give us a little more, please do.’
“I know you will.”
On Saturday morning we had our emotions moved to tears — it was happiness; it was joy; there was also sadness, as the Alhambra remembered the beloved Voice of the ACIT, Tom O’Rourke, who passed away on June 15.
Cathedral coach Mark Daly, who also made us laugh on Saturday morning and has been coming to the ACIT as an eighth-grade fan, a player and a coach since 1983, said, “It was a dream of mine to hear Mr. O’Rourke call my name,” before going to his own booming and deliberate Tom O’Rourke voice (and everybody has their own T.O. tribute): “Daly ... Mark Daly!”
Carter remembered O’Rourke as much more than the voice of the tournament, but as one of the ACIT’s most reliable supporters and dearest friends. Tim Marley is part of the Philadelphia contingent that made its annual ACIT “pilgrimage” this weekend despite the Philadelphia schools no longer being eligible to play in the ACIT.
“Tim told me last night,” said Carter, “ ‘Tom knew every one of us by name, and he made a point to talk to each and every one of us before we went home to Philly.’ ”
We experienced it all on Saturday morning and into early afternoon at the 6th Joe Divico Coaches Brunch, and Wootten, who has been coming to the ACIT “since I was a little kid running the elevators out there all night long,” is hoping with all he has we’ll continue to experience it all each third weekend of March.
“The Alhambra is about tradition,” Wootten said. “You do it the right way. No detail is too small. This is the only tournament we go to that we pay our own way to. But we gladly pay to come here, because what you do and who you are are special. And our kids leave here every year with the feeling that, ‘I did something for somebody who needed it.’
“So I encourage you to keep it going. You carry old-time standards in this technological age. I urge you to keep this cause going.”
Plans are already under way to do just that.
“This tournament is about making friends,” Carter said, “and that’s just what we do. It doesn’t matter if you’ve come once, twice, or five times, you want to come back.
“Plans are already being made for the 50th Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament. We already have six reservations from Philly. There will be a bus filled with our friends from Philly.
“We are making big-time arrangements to celebrate this tournament the way it should be celebrated. We’ll bring back as many players, coaches and fans as we can, and it will be great to see them.”
And together, for the 50th time, we will laugh, we will spend time in thought, we will have our emotions moved to tears, and we will cry. They will be tears of happiness and joy
Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.
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