North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Raising Awareness, Wearing Pink
4/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
RALEIGH, N.C. – When NC State assistant coach Jeanine Gunther sees Wolfpack second-baseman Alyssa Ishibashi and Alyssa Allbritten, two roommates and key contributors for the team, she can't help but think of Jamie Shaver Mayberry, her former roommate and co-captain during their careers at North Carolina.
And all she has been through since they played together.
Gunther, in her first year as an assistant for head coach Lisa Navas, was a catcher for the Tar Heels and Mayberry was a second baseman. They remain close friends, even though Gunther is here in Raleigh and Mayberry lives in Ohio.
So it has hit Gunther hard to see her friend struggle with the effects and treatment for ovarian cancer over the last several years.
"It's amazing to think that within 10 years of us finishing our careers, she could be facing something so incredibly life-changing," Gunther said. "You just never know. That's why you need to do everything you can to try to prevent it or catch it early."
And that's one of the messages the Wolfpack women's softball team hopes to convey in its third-annual "Power in Pink" game Friday afternoon against Boston College. The first of the three-game set with the ACC foe is set to begin at 2 p.m. at the Curtis and Jacqueline Dail Softball Stadium.
On Sunday, in the final of three games at North Carolina, the Wolfpack and the Tar Heels participated in a "Strike Out Cancer" game to benefit UNC's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the same place NC State offensive coordinator Dana Bible received his treatments for leukemia at the end of last football season.
Mayberry, for the second consecutive year, was there to throw out the first pitch. The game was competitive, with the Wolfpack taking a 5-1 victory and two of the three games in the series. But it meant even more for Gunther to reconnect and visit with her roommate.
"When you are in your late 20s/early 30s, you don't expect one of your teammates or friends to be hit with cancer," Gunther said. "She is very open about her experience. She has done a great job educating the people around her and encouraging them to take care of themselves and don't ignore things."
Gunther hopes the Wolfpack players, all in their late teens and early 20s, and all the fans in attendance absorb that message this weekend.
"I think for our kids and the Boston College kids, that message can always help," Gunther said. "When you are young and athletic and work out all the time, you kind of think that things like this can't touch you. But you learn that cancer doesn't discriminate. That is a message they need to hear over and over again.
"You need to do the things you need to do for early detection or preventative care."
All funds raised at the game will go to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. The Wolfpack will be wearing the same pink, black and white Under Armor uniforms it wore during last year's game.
Admission is free for all spectators. The first 100 fans to arrive will receive a pink NC State breast cancer awareness bracelet. Among the items available for sale are the Kay Yow "Y" t-shirts and pink crocs. A silent auction, including the same uniforms the team will be wearing in the game and teal-and-white T-shirts from Sunday's game against the Tar Heels, will be held during the game as well.
In its previous two pink games, the softball team has raised more than $3,000 for the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. Like all members of the NC State athletics staff, Yow made a big impact during their years together, so it is important for Navas to help continue the late coach's legacy.
"When you say NC State athletics, people think of Jim Valvano and Coach Yow," Navas said. "I treasure the time I had here while she was here. She was such a great person. I admire her even more for the struggle that she went through toward the end and motivating those kids. She never let that affect her.
"Through her faith and her love of basketball and NC State, she continued to do so much. If the little bit of money that we raise can help contribute to finding a cure, we just want to do our part."
It is also a personal battle for Navas, who has had two players affected by cancer during their playing careers. One passed away while she was the head coach at Barry College. Another, catcher Jennifer Patterson, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer shortly after her first season with the Wolfpack. She had surgery to remove a cantaloupe-size tumor from her abdomen and went through chemotherapy treatments over a summer in her home state of California, then returned to NC State to continue her career.
Patterson, now a firefighter in the Raleigh area, attended Sunday's game against the Tar Heels, and visited briefly with Navas.
Friday's game is one of the many efforts NC State athletics is involved with to raise money for the Yow foundation, including the annual Hoops for Hope women's basketball game and the Kay Yow Memorial Spring Football Game, which will be held on April 17 at Carter-Finley Stadium.
"Every little bit helps," Navas said. "We all should do what we can."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
