Coach Kay Yow – RIP

Campus News Fans General Kay Yow NCS Basketball48

Kay YowAs reported by the News & Observer

WRAL.com | ESPN.com | GoPack.com

A sad day for the Wolfpack nation, as a true hero and inspiration to thousands lost her long and courageous battle with breast cancer. Kay Yow was 66.

Hoops for Hope | V Foundation for Cancer Research

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Campus News Fans General Kay Yow NCS Basketball

48 Responses to Coach Kay Yow – RIP

  1. highstick 01/24/2009 at 12:13 PM #

    Coach Yow was the epitomy of Jimmy V’s message, “Don’t Give Up, Don’t Ever Give Up”!

    Thanks for your service, your memories, and your love for N C State!

  2. Afterglow 01/24/2009 at 12:15 PM #

    What an icredible coach, teacher, person and inspiration. You will be missed.

  3. Rochester 01/24/2009 at 1:04 PM #

    I guess I was just so accustomed to her overcoming these obstacles in life that I really thought she would beat it again this time. Thanks for everything, Coach Yow. What a class act.

  4. BSIE80 01/24/2009 at 1:05 PM #

    Sad day- what a great person, career and life. Kay did everything right…

  5. wolfonthehill 01/24/2009 at 1:11 PM #

    Cancer sucks. There’s simply no other way to put it. We’ve all been affected by it somehow, and will continue to be… all we can do is help fight it, in whatever way we can.

    My job involves manufacturing cancer diagnostics, so I thankfully have a chance to be involved in some way every day.

    Coach Kay did her part by NEVER wavering in her fight… NEVER looking weak… NEVER giving any inclination that she wouldn’t pull through it – every single time.

    Coach Kay, you lived the words of Jimmy V… “Don’t ever give up!!!”… you never did.

    Thank you. God bless you.

  6. Sweet jumper 01/24/2009 at 1:31 PM #

    ESPN showed a nice tribute to Coach Yow during halftime of the Duke-Maryland game.

  7. brodywolf 01/24/2009 at 1:33 PM #

    As a lifelong wolfpacker, all I can say is thank you Coach Yow!! It is because of the courage and fight that people like her have shown that I chose to go into medicine. She has touched us all so deeply in a way that I hope she was able to know before she passed. She will always be our coach-and our inspiration!!! Go Pack.

  8. TomPack 01/24/2009 at 1:42 PM #

    We have truly lost a great coach but an even better person. I have a 20 month old daughter and when she is older and we are at the Wolfpack basketball games and she asks about the banners I look forward to telling her about who put them up there. As long as we remember and tell our children and then our grandchildren about coaches like Kay Yow and Jim Valvano they will always be with us in spirit…mourn the loss but rejoice in all the great memories they have left us. God Bless her family and know that she will be missed and remembered.

  9. transylvania 01/24/2009 at 1:52 PM #

    I remember as a student when she came to speak at my InterVarsity group. What a class act. We will miss her!

  10. packbackr04 01/24/2009 at 2:14 PM #

    Coach Yow will be missed.

    will there be a game thread?

  11. Mike 01/24/2009 at 3:05 PM #

    Coach Yow – what an inspiration you are to all of us.

    Folks, I traveled with the team for 3 years broadcasting their games on the radio. There is no finer person than Kay Yow, and my life was blessed for the time I spent with her and the team.

    I have never found anyone able to say one bad thing about Coach Yow and when I think of NC State University, I cant think of a better ambassador anywhere to our fine U.

  12. Mike 01/24/2009 at 3:09 PM #

    I also have to tell this one story. Coach Yow was treated like a celebrity everywhere we went and the local media was always lining up for interviews. Kay was so personable and always made time for the media.

    We were playing in a tournament out of town, and one of the radio guys from one of the other teams was named, no joke, Wildman. He asked a question, and her answer was in her beautiful southern drawl, “Well Wildman……..”and I dont even remember the rest. It was just so funny to hear her call him by name. But that was Kay Yow.

    You will be missed Coach, but thanks for the many memories and more so, the inspiration you are (still are) to all.

  13. Tar Heel Fan 01/24/2009 at 3:28 PM #

    Thoughts and prayers for Kay Yow’s family and for Wolfpack Nation as a whole. Yow was very much a trailblazer in the sport and the success women’s basketball has enjoyed in recent years can be credited in part to what Yow accomplished in being an ambassador for the sport.

  14. ChiefJoJo 01/24/2009 at 3:32 PM #

    My heart sank when I heard the news today. She was a giant in the world of women’s basketball, but even more so seemed to always rise above it all with her grace and courage. I think we all knew that another recurrence might be the last one, but it’s still hard to see her go.

    I just realized that she has been on the sidelines at State my entire lifetime. I have never known another women’s basketball coach at NC State, and in some ways, it’s hard to imagine anyone else taking her place.

    I know we have a men’s game today, but win or lose, it’s another reminder that while sports are fun and important on some level, their relative importance pales in comparison to what we accomplish in life & how we contribute to the lives of others. It is by that measure, that Kay Yow shines as a true champion in all our hearts.

    Kay Yow, we will all miss you!

  15. blackdom 01/24/2009 at 4:11 PM #

    Thanks coach

  16. Texpack 01/24/2009 at 4:14 PM #

    If I may quote my Daddy, “For a Christian, there are worse things than death.” God Bless the soul of Kay Yow. We are so fortunate to have had her as part of the Wolfpack family for so many years.

    I spoke with Coach Yow several times while I was a student at State. A good friend of mine from high school was playing for her sister @ ETSU and we chatted about how she was doing in the days before you could keep up with such things on the web.

  17. blpack 01/24/2009 at 5:00 PM #

    Sad day for Wolfpack Nation. She will be missed.

  18. WV Wolf 01/24/2009 at 6:27 PM #

    Sad news today but I’m happy that Coach Yow is no longer suffering. The world could use a few more people like Kay Yow.

    My favorite Coach Yow memory was the win over #1 then undefeated Duke in the semi-finals of the ACC tourney 2 years ago. I don’t know if I have ever seen a team play as hard as those ladies did that day and I have no doubt they were inspired by their coach.

    Then there was a great moment after the game. Duke’s players had every reason to be down, they just lost the game, got knocked out of the ACC tourney and was no longer undefeated. But in the handshake line, when she got to Coach Yow one of Duke’s players had a big smile on her face and gave Kay a hug. That’s good stuff right there.

  19. ktpritch 01/24/2009 at 7:47 PM #

    God bless Kay and the Yow family…you will be missed.

  20. turfpack 01/24/2009 at 9:27 PM #

    Kay Yow-that says NCSTATE-she really loved the school-she will truly
    be missed.
    On a personnal note- I lost my mom 2 years ago -Mom used coach Yow as a role model for her fight and was thrilled by a note coach Kay sent her during her hospital visit-she was a Icon coach but even a better person.A sad sad day for everyone that knew her.
    To coach Yow -thankyou for everything and say hello to my Mom-I will see you one day.

  21. BoKnowsNCS71 01/25/2009 at 1:37 PM #

    Would sure love to see the picture Of Coaches Yow and Valvano together that has been shown lately — made into two statues that stood together somewhere on our campus.

  22. wufpup76 01/25/2009 at 2:48 PM #

    ^Exactly what I was thinking BoKnows

    If they could make a statue from a picture where they are hugging (or something similar) I think that would be a great thing

    Either on campus or in front of the RBC Center … I think that would be wonderful

  23. packalum44 01/25/2009 at 5:05 PM #

    I am extremely sad. The Wolfpack Nation lost a family member this weekend and we will greatly miss her.

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