North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Yow Cedes Spotlight to Fellow Survivors
1/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
RALEIGH, N.C. – They walked onto the floor with tears streaming down their face. They were in groups, separated by numbers. And Sunday, they were the honored guests at Reynolds Coliseum, in the second-annual Hoops for Hope, a basketball game and fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
NC State coach Kay Yow, who has been fighting another well-publicized battle with breast cancer, gladly ceded the stage to the others. She high-fived her fellow survivors them as she walked onto the court prior to the game. And she embraced them as she left the court following the game.
But in between, as NC State and Boston College went to their lockerrooms for halftime, the survivors walked, one-by-one, onto the floor where so many Wolfpack champions have performed nearly six decades.
On another day, they may have been over-shadowed by some other high-profile people in the building.
New NC State football coach Tom O’Brien sat in the end zone for the first half, or at least as long as he could before he had to catch a 2:30 flight for a recruiting visit. Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher sat on press row with his wife, Kaye Young Cowher, who played basketball for the Wolfpack under Yow. Golf legend Peggy Kirk Bell -- one of the founding members of the LPGA, the host of this year’s US Women’s Open at Pine Needles Golf and Lodge in Southern Pines and a long-time friend of Yow’s – watched the game from press row.
And dozens of former Wolfpack women players who helped Yow succeed during her Hall of Fame career of nearly 700 victories were sitting in prime locations on the lower level. The game was the culmination of a huge reunion weekend, organized by former players Debbie Antonelli and Kristen Gillespie, that included an alumni game Saturday morning and a reunion banquet at Vaughn Tower at Carter-Finley Stadium.
But all of the 7,971 people in attendance, as well as the players and coaches for both teams, were essentially there for support, to celebrate as hundreds of breast cancer survivors paraded across the floor, many overcome with emotion.
Yow had her day on Thursday, when she returned to the sidelines against Virginia after missing 16 games while undergoing chemotherapy treatments. Her team provided a exciting win over Virginia, which is coached by another cancer survivor, Debbie Ryan.
So Sunday, the coach was content to be the biggest booster in the gym for the work of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Triangle Chapter, which was the recipient of the $43,820 check from ticket sales and proceeds of the silent auction held before the game.
“This was such an emotional game for me, because it stands for hope,” Yow said afterwards. “Research, which is what the Komen Foundation supports, means hope. If you aren’t raising money and doing research, then you are not finding any answers.
“Raising this money is very important to me. All the survivors and those who are still battling cancer have gained strength and courage. We are inspired and uplifted. We are given hope. We know we are not in this fight by ourselves. We are fighting together and supporting each other. And all the people who are hear who aren’t battling cancer, they are supporting us. They are here because they care, and it makes a great difference for all of us.”
And there was inspiration of all kinds on the court Sunday. Wolfpack senior center Gillian Goring, who has fought many injuries through her career at Connecticut and NC State, had a career high 20 points and 12 rebounds in the 64-46 Wolfpack victory.
“I just decided that I needed to work hard,” Goring said. “My nagging little injuries aren’t anything to what Coach Yow has been through. I just put in my mind to work hard all the time.”
And that is the kind of inspiration Kay Yow, who was first diagnosed with cancer in 1987, has been to so many people for nearly 20 years.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
