RIP Kay Yow (Updated)

Kay Yow died today. She was 66 and had fought breast cancer for 22 years.

I met Kay Yow once, at the Women's Final Four in Los Angeles in 1992. She was there for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association convention. We rode in an elevator down to the lobby with her. They were glassed in elevators that made a lot of people nervous. She was tall and lean, rangy and a little stooped over. (I didn't know she was a cancer survivor already). She had a rough, husky voice and an electric presence. She told some joke that had a slightly bawdy punchline, laughed uproariously at her own joke, said goodbye to everyone on the elevator and strode off when the doors opened.

That's the way I'll remember Kay Yow, the force of nature I met that day.

RIP Kay Yow.


NewsObserver.com: Yow's story touched players, fans

Mechelle Voepel, ESPN.com: Yow's considerable efforts will live on

AP: Kay Yow, Basketball Coach, Dies at 66

NewsObserver.com: A Chronology of Kay Yow's Life

Photo Gallery, Kay Yow, 1942-2009

UPDATE: Go to this link for a wide-ranging interview with Kay Yow (did you know her first name was Sandra?) as part of the University of North Carolina's Southern Oral History Program Collection. You can listen to the audio or read the transcript of the interview.

Think Pink Tribute to Kay Yow

Credit: Nelson Kepley/News & Record

N.C. State's Shayla Fields, (from left) Nikitta Gartrell, Hanna Halteman and Sharnise Beal celebrate their win.

RALEIGH -- Reynolds Coliseum became a pink paradise Sunday in celebration of the third annual Hoops for Hope women's basketball game.

More than 8,000 men and women, young and old, wore ribbons and their favorite shade of pink as N.C. State defeated Boston College 60-41.

The Wolfpack (15-9, 3-6 ACC) wore specially designed pink uniforms and Kay Yow's last name on the back of each jersey to support the team's coach, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 and learned in November that she has stage-four cancer.

"We got Yow on the back of our jerseys because we knew that this day was for her, and all we wanted to do was go out, play for her and play our hardest," said junior guard Shayla Fields.

The Women's Basketball Coaches Association is sponsoring the Think Pink campaign against breast cancer. Over 900 teams have signed up to participate. NC State's entire team wore jerseys with their coach Kay Yow's name on the back. She is back coaching while undergoing treatment for Stage 4 breast cancer.

I hate all the pink stuff but it's great to see all the tributes to Kay Yow. She has done so much to promote women's basketball and her very public fight against breast cancer is inspiring.