RIP Kay Yow

I was right there with you, Oz.

Breast cancer is near and dear to my heart (and probably in my future, thanks grams!) and I've followed Kay Yow from the other coast for years. An inspiration in so many ways, we're all luckier for just knowing who she is(was).

psuedo, thanks for the link. And I'll be wearing pink today in her honor.

RIP, Kay.

 

1) The worst thing about cancer is not its initial arrival but its recurrence.
2) ESPN has a FanNation feature that asks fans to name the four figures on each state's "Mount Rushmore of Sports." Kay How would have belonged on North Carolina's mountainside even without the courageous fight against cancer. She championed women's sports at a time when Title IX was an obscure federal law with no teeth. Girls would have gotten their chance to play high school sports at some point, but her work accelerated the timetable considerably.

 

Very, very sad. From everything I have heard, Kay Yow exemplified class.

RIP.

 

This day has been the most dreaded for a long time. As most of you probably know already, I attended North Carolina State University (not sure I got much of an education ... still pretty dumb). I was in the music program and the pep band played both men's and women's games. Believe it or not, at that time, the women's games were more interesting since they won 20 a year and had Kay on the sideline.

I sent this PM to a treasured colleague here not long after it was announced that she would miss the rest of this season, so please excuse the out-of-date time element. It pretty much encapsulates what Kay Yow was all about:

She's been out for extended periods of time before, and come back. In other words, all hope is not lost.

I dunno if I've shared this story, but one year the NCSU women's team earned a berth back when the sub-regionals were played at 16 home sites - i.e., the 1-4 seeds got up to two home games. We were in State College ... the team was flown, and so were the cheerleaders. The band - and I was a band bum - had to bus from Raleigh to freaking State College.

Word had it that any band members Kay Yow found got a sincere "thank you" from her. NCSU stunned Penn State in the second round and earned a trip to Des Moines.

Two weeks later, some of us went to our band classes and found invitations. Yow invited those of us who made the trips to the women's basketball banquet. And we weren't shoved into the dark corner. Kay had us sat among the players and their parents and herded us up front at one point to extend her personal thanks.'

Plus when the Wolfpack Caravan went to our neck of the woods, Chuck Amato was a little snarky. Herb Sendek was nothing but class and couldn't have been nicer. Kay Yow would have jumped out of the chair if it had helped her ... couldn't have been more sincere and honest with her answers, pat question or no.

Any more questions why she will always walk on water here?

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EDIT: Twenty of us were permitted to fly to Des Moines for the regional. Anyone who made either trip was offered a personal invite to the women's basketball banquet. And, as said before, we weren't shoved in the dark corner, laughed at, given some token recognition as part of Kay's speech and sent on our way. She brought each of us up front, recognized us and didn't let us leave until the rest had whipped up the room into a frenzy.

I was sitting at a table where a player's boyfriend proposed. Guess who was happiest? Hint: It wasn't the player.

Class personified. And a massive loss for the NCSU community, sports and humanity. RIP Kay Yow ... rest assured you will be dearly missed.

 

The media guide for NCSU's women's team was outstanding:

http://www.gopack.com/fls/9200/08-09%20WBB%20Media%20Guide/08-09_WBB_Covers.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=9200

Women's basketball's loss. Basketball's loss. Sports' loss. Humanity's loss.

 

I worried about this when she had to leave the program. As tough as she is, I figured it was bad.

RIP to a person who treated me well the few times I covered her.

 

Aw, goddammit.
She was the best.
And a very cool name.

 

I'm originally from Raleigh. This is tough. RIP, Kay.

 

Damn, this sucks. RIP coach.

 

Mechelle Voepel summarizes things pretty nicely here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/columns/story?columnist=voepel_mechelle&id=3853652

 

I echo all that has been said here. Never covered Kay, but worked with Debbie when Maryland's women's team was making an NCAA run one year. I find it amazing the impact those two sisters have had on college athletics.

 

Kay didn't lose her battle with cancer. She just ran out of time. RIP