North Carolina State University Athletics
Fans Pay Tribute to Kay Yow at Reynolds Coliseum
1/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BY DAVE POND
NCSU.edu
RALEIGH, N.C. Gathered around the hardwood named in her honor, members of the NC State family celebrated one of their own Wednesday night: legendary basketball coach and cancer activist Kay Yow, who passed away Saturday morning at the age of 66.
"Kay's life was nothing short of remarkable," NC State chancellor James L. Oblinger said. "She inspired and encouraged others to pursue the game she loved, helping to develop her players, coaches and the game itself.
"With a passion that commanded admiration and respect, she inspired not only her team but opposing teams as well."
Wednesday's hour-long tribute began before a hushed crowd, as each member of the women's basketball program entered Reynolds Coliseum to lay a rose on a single, spotlit chair draped with the No. 14, the number Yow and her two younger sisters wore as a player at Gibsonville (N.C.) High School.
"Tonight we will honor, reminisce - maybe laugh or cry - and we thank you for being here," Robin Pate, director of basketball operations for the NC State women's basketball program told the gathered crowd. "Your being here will help us in our process."
Emotions were high, and fans that were once strangers supported one another with familial grace and pride, bonded by their affection for the only full-time women's basketball coach NC State has ever known. If those fans only knew of Yow's records and accolades, they didn't truly know her - a sentiment echoed by virtually every person who spoke Wednesday night.
"Tonight really showed everyone who Kay Yow was," Wolfpack fan Julie Edwards said. "She has done so much for people around her, and I just hope that I can bring a little bit of that what she's taught me those in my life."
"Coach Yow's legacy will continue through every one she's touched."
"This all really means so much - mostly because we know how much the fans meant to Coach Yow," said NC State assistant coach Jenny Palmateer. "Coach Yow was always so appreciative of the support she received from the Wolfpack Nation, and there wasn't anything that could bring a smile to her face more than coming up the stairs at Reynolds Coliseum to a great crowd."
As fans began to disperse, they stole final, fleeting glances at the string of banners lifted high into the rafters - grandiose displays that marked many of the most significant achievements in Yow's NC State coaching history.
But Yow's legacy goes well beyond the hardwood, and she used her talents not for personal gain but to help others.
"[Coach Yow] shared with us that Philippians 4:13 says 'I can do all things who Christ who strengthens me," said NC State interim head coach Stephanie Glance. "Now, Christ has welcomed her home, saying 'Well done, my good and faithful servant - welcome home.'"
A short walk from the court that will forever bear her name, Yow's private office remains filled with the things that truly meant the most to her. Photos of players, family and the friends she made over the years lay next to her Bible and the countless letters and notes from those whom Yow encouraged as she fought a lengthy battle with breast cancer.
"Kay Yow once said, 'I need to make a difference in the lives of other people. If I'm not doing that, I've missed the whole point of my gift of life,'" Oblinger said. "Coach Yow, you did make a difference in so many ways and so many lives, in the lives of those who knew you and in the lives of people who knew of you."
Yow found extraordinary success on the court, but basketball - we now know - proved to be the vehicle she would use to bring a true hope to the world around her, through an unyielding spirit, determination and shining example to all.
"We're all on the same team against breast cancer," Yow told me in an interview last January as she prepared for NC State's annual Hoops for Hope fundraiser. "We have this opportunity to bring everybody together, cooperate, and make a major difference in the lives of people - and that excites me."
The 4th Annual Hoops 4 Hope fundraising event will be held at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, as the NC State women's basketball team battles Virginia in Reynolds Coliseum. Tickets are available at the GoPack.com Ticket Center and are $10 for adults and $5 for children, with $5 from each ticket going to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.
A public viewing will be held Friday, Jan. 30, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. with Yow's funeral to follow at 3 p.m. at Cary's Colonial Baptist Church. Her burial will take place Saturday, Jan. 31, at 10 a.m. at the Gibsonville Cemetery in Gibsonville, NC. Click here for more information.
Dave Pond can be reached at dave_pond@ncsu.edu
