I met Valvano on a Caribbean cruise that my mom and I took in 1990. The guy couldn't have been more personable to me or her and would talk your ear off.
By sheer coincidence, he and his family (mother included) wound up taking the same beach tour that we did. We were bused from the dock to a remote beach to spend the day slapping around in the sun, then bused back.
Our bus driver in on the return trip was a bit of a character. He said over the intercom system that there wasn't enough love in the world and, on the count of three, he wanted everyone to look at the person next to them and say, "I care about you." A couple of seconds after the three count and the sentiments were shared, Valvano's voice boomed, "I don't even KNOW this guy!" The entire bus lost it.
Valvano gave me his address and said toss him a letter sometime. I did and I guess I had a celebrity pen pal for about a year and a half. He always wrote back, on his own stationary, in his own handwriting. We planned on taking another cruise the following summer (I swear my mother was slinging crack in the 1990s) but plans changed when she got wind that the high school I attended was sponsoring a 10 day trip to the Soviet Union in 1991.
Being a brat, irresponsible kid, I sent Valvano a letter, thinking, Here's a guy that's been on a ****ing cruise. He'll get where I'm coming from. "Can you believe this person wants me to go to friggin Russia?" Two weeks later I received a reply. "Take the Russia trip. It's something you'll never forget." With each passing year that statement gets more accurate.
I believe it was summer, 1992 that ESPN broke the story that he had cancer. Well ****, people get cancer all the time and come out fine (ahh, the joys of being 15). Either way, I sent another letter down. Again I received a reply in about two weeks. Although the writing was funny on the envelope this time. It was from one of his daughters, who thanked more for my sentiments for her father, but said he was being overwhelmed with cards of support and wasn't able to answer them all personally.
A few months later Valvano was dead, and it's been the only time I've been choked up over celebrity passing away. I still have those letters in a place of safe keeping. Pretty sure I want them buried with me. What the hell, anyone going through my stuff after I'm gone would never understand the significance.
