Kay Yow: A Symbol for the Fight

Kay Yow throws up her hands in the iconic Wolfpack gesture she helped popularize.

This Wolfpacker cover story was written in 2009 as an obituary overview of what Sandra Kay Yow symbolized as a coach, an inspiration and a representative of NC State.  If you enjoy reading "One Brick Back" and would like to help offset research expenses for stories such as this one, please make a small donation to the cause and help keep posts like this free of ads.

BY TIM PEELER

© Coman Publishing, 2008

Kay Yow never set out to be an inspiration any more than she set out to be a basketball coach.

All she wanted to do when she graduated from East Carolina University with a degree in English and a minor in Library Science was teach high school literature classes. Her first — and only — job offer came with a requirement that she had to coach the girls’ basketball team at Allen Jay High School in High Point.

Having never played the sport in college, and never coached on any level, Yow taught herself the rudiments of the game by reading whatever books she could find on offensive and defensive strategies. How appropriate for a would-be English teacher.

As it turned out, she was extremely good at inspiring her players, while in high school and as the coach at Elon College and at NC State, where she was the first person ever hired by the state of North Carolina to be a full-time coach and athletics administrator. She coached basketball, volleyball and softball.

Yow came along at just the right time: just after passage of Title IX of the 1972 Educational Acts that guaranteed women equal access to school-sponsored athletics at colleges and universities that received federal money. It opened the door for her to open the door for others, giving them the opportunity to play college athletics while getting an education.

Many times, however, Yow declared that she was “no women’s libber.” She wasn’t out to change the world or be a pioneer for equal rights. All she wanted to do was to be a successful coach, a righteous example and a good friend.

Funny, isn’t it, the unintended consequences of success?

Yow had a life-altering conversion in 1975, when she became a born-again Christian, thanks to the persistence of Laurie Moore, a diligent representative of the NC State Campus Crusade for Christ. Moore wanted to meet with Yow’s teams to talk to them about her belief in God and Jesus Christ. Yow put her off as long as she could.

“You are a good person, coach,” Moore told Yow. “But not every good person goes to Heaven.”

Yow attacked her Christianity with the same diligence as a full-court zone press, not just reading the Bible, but absorbing it, challenging it and living its teachings. During his eulogy at Yow’s funeral, Cary Alliance Church pastor Mitchell Gregory told of the many times that Yow called to ask a question about faith that she needed answered immediately. None of the questions were easy.

And it wasn’t easy being a faithful Christian while coaching nationally and internationally successful basketball teams. But Yow used her pulpit of the coaching box to spread her faith, by living a devout life that always focused on the positive. And, if she needed to, she was willing to smuggle Bibles into the Soviet Union to give away to secret Christians while on her wait to beat the Russians on their home turf.

So it was in 1987, when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. It couldn’t have come at a worse time, of course. Yow was just a year away from leading Team USA into the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. 

She had the radical mastectomy, the chemotherapy and the radiation treatments that sent the cancer into remission for more than 17 years and got on with her life. She continued to coach, continued to teach and continued to live a faithful life.

On occasion, she would help raise money for breast cancer awareness and prevention. She was the chair of the Raleigh’s inaugural Race for the Cure, a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Association. She wore the label of “breast cancer survivor” with pride.

Quietly, she would send notes and make phone calls to public figures and private citizens who she learned had been diagnosed with the disease, knowing that a little positive assurance would go a long way in that person’s treatment and recovery.

It wasn’t really until the disease returned — a rare occurrence, according to her long-time oncologist Mark Graham — that Yow b
ecame more than a participant in the fight against cancer. Shortly after it was rediscovered in 2004, Yow became a symbol for the fight.

Being in the spotlight was not necessarily easy for Yow, though she had plenty of practice as a basketball coach. It was, however, something she felt was necessary.

“I have always tried to be pretty open about my health,” Yow said in a 2006 interview. “For one thing, it helps other people. When I go in for my radiation treatments, I see so many others who are going through the same thing.

“I think I can be an encouragement to people, by just going on about my business, doing my thing. Life isn’t stopping because I have been diagnosed with a disease. A person might have a disease, and you could die from something else while you are worrying about this. You do what you have to do.”

Beating cancer – which she did for five years, until it began to take over her body late last year – became just another opponent to beat. She found the right strategy for her, which included being a high-profile spokesperson for awareness and prevention.

“If I kept this to myself, then it would be making this just about me,” Yow said in the same interview. “That’s not who I am. I have always been a team player. There is a big team of people out there battling cancer. You have to choose an attitude to fight and persevere.”

Yow chose to fight, and she commandeered the color pink to do it. Pink ribbons had long been the symbol for breast cancer awareness, but Yow turned them upside down – turning it into a pink Y.

In December, 2007, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association worked with the V Foundation for Cancer Research to begin the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. It is now the WBCA’s primary charity, the recipient of much of the money that has been raised in the organization’s “Think Pink” and “Pink Zone” initiatives.

In its first 13 months, the fund collected a little more than $700,000. Only a fraction of that money – about 20 percent – came from the nearly $1 million raised by the 1,250 “Think Pink” events held last year.

This year, more than 1,500 Pink Zone Events – including NC State’s Hoops4Hope that raised more than $91,000 – are expected to raise much more money for the Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.

“The thing I'll always think about with Kay is how she made pink,” said Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie after Yow’s death. “She made pink something special. For the longest time, pink was something soft and feminine and suddenly it became this courageous fight that everyone's been united in, and that was one of her many legacies.

“She made pink more beautiful than pink could ever be.”

Being the spokesperson for such an organization is an exhausting proposition for a healthy person. It was sometimes overwhelming for someone trying to function with Stage IV cancer, as Yow did for the last three years.

“The thing about Kay is that her strength is divinely inspired,” said ACC senior associate commissioner for women’s basketball Nora Lynn Finch said. “Her source of strength is God-given. Even as she has had to deal with increasingly difficult health issues, her spirit continues to stay strong.”

That spirit is what people are most likely to remember about Yow, whose nine ACC regular-season and tournament championships and multiple gold medals have slowly taken a backseat in recent years to her fight against cancer.

In the same way that Jim Valvano, her long-time friend and former colleague, is now remembered more for his speech at the ESPYs — and the more passionate version he gave at Reynolds Coliseum — just weeks before his death in 1993, Yow will be remembered for her spirit, strength and courage.

And, while the NC State and women’s basketball communities mourn Yow’s loss, she leaves something more than just memories. The cancer fund established on her behalf leaves a legacy.

Sadly, that’s a legacy that is shared with some other important figures in the history of NC State basketball:

Fellow basketball Hall of Fame inductee Everett Case, who introduced big-time college basketball to the South, also died of cancer, in 1966, a little over a year after he helped the members of his final team cut down the nets at the ’65 ACC Championship.

Ronnie Shavlik, one of the most important recruits and accomplished players in the history of the ACC, died of cancer just months after he watched the Wolfpack win the 1983 NCAA Championship.

And, finally, Valvano, who died after a similarly public battle against cancer.

Perhaps they all battled for a purpose.

A couple of weeks ago, former NC State assistant and Duke head coach Vic Bubas was in town to talk to the Raleigh Sports Club. He knew Case, Shavlik, Valvano and Yow well.

“Each of them had a special message, a special courage, a special presence that maybe can serve generations in the future,” Bubas said. “They each showed us how to handle a horrible situation. It’s almost like God chose certain people, exceptionally strong people, to lead the fight.

“I am extremely grateful for what each of them left and I hope their work continues for more generations.”