The Courage of Jim Valley. Courage and valor is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, intimidation, and valor is courage and bravery displayed during battle. Valley is a well-respected amongst everyone in pro wrestling and anyone he meets. In addition, he has an approachable kindness which is incredibly rare in life, which makes him a superior broadcast journalist.
Jim became interested in Pro wrestling when he was a kid when he would watch TV every Saturday Night. He enjoyed watching Roddy Piper, especially when he came to the northwest.
“He the territory on fire, that’s when it became an obsession. I bought wrestling magazines, went to live events, and watched wrestling from Georgia when we got cable TV around 1983. At that point, wrestling exploded, and I could watch so much wrestling, which I happily obliged.”
Jim has a rare autoimmune disease called GPA (formerly known as Wegener’s), and while it has been in remission for about 6+ years, he had a flare-up that has frankly been hell for he and his wife, Kari. With his wife Kari by his side, he continuously not only fights a battle but endures a war that many could not fathom.
He got laryngitis, but it manifested into pneumonia. He got shingles. In early October 2021, he was placed in an acute care facility to get ventilator care, dialysis, PTO, OT, and speech therapy. He was set to come home, and then, he had another setback.
“I always liked the radio: the popular music and the theater of the mind. I don’t have the best voice, but I tried to make up for it with creativity. As I got older, I decided to transition into news/talk. That’s how I met Roddy Piper while working in Portland,”
stated Valley in regards to his broadcasting career.
Valley is a broadcast journalist on F4WOnline, Wrestling Observer Live, Wrestling Observer Radio, the Portland WrestleCast, and the Pacific Rim Pro Wrestling Podcast.
This year he was one of three to win the Cauliflower Alley Club Courage award; the others were “Golden Boy” Jerry Grey and Stuart Kemp.
The Courage of Jim Valley
“It’s amazing. I won a National and many regional Murrow Awards during my radio career. This means more to me than all of those. I love the history of Cauliflower Alley, and I support all the improvements that Brian Blair and the Executive Board have made. So it’s quite an important honor to me. I don’t consider what I’ve done courageous. I think anyone who wants to live would do what I have done.
My wife is the courageous one who managed the house, paid the bills, advocated for me at hospitals, worked full-time from my ICU, and took care of me when I was too weak to do it myself. I joke that when it came to wedding vows that she got worse, poorer, and in sickness. She’s the courageous one. That’s why I consider it to be a tag team award,”
said Jim Valley.
If there was an award for most inspirational speech Kemp would have received it that evening as his speech was beautifully executed. In addition, the speech inspired a t-shirt at Pro Wrestling Tee’s.
Stuart at some point lost his voice and he is trying to not only get it back but improve his lung capacity so he can do his podcasts.
“My wife Kari is, by far the most inspirational part of my life. Aside from her, my in-laws John and Donna Mollan are very inspirational. They support Kari and have been an amazing example of enduring love.
They just celebrated 53 years of marriage and have only spent less than two weeks apart in that time. One of those times was when Donna came up last year to help Kari when I first got sick. They bought my t-shirt and proudly wear it. They’ve been incredibly supportive and inspiring,”
said Valley.
If you wish to donate to Jim’s gofund me, please click here.