Kay Yow Battles Cancer [J. Mark English]

North Carolina State and its women team advanced another round in the women's NCAA tournament today. Coached by Kay Yow, they easily defeated Robert Morris 84-52, giving the program their first victory in tournament play in six years.

Even more impressive though is the story of their coach, Kay Yow. She is battling breast cancer, and is enduring chemotherapy. Jere Longman of the New York Times details the trials that coach Yow must face both on the court and off the court:

Already, it was going to be an arduous week for Kay Yow, the Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach at North Carolina State: Blood work for a tumor cell count on Monday. Chemotherapy for Stage 4 breast cancer on Wednesday. An opening-round game in the N.C.A.A. tournament on Sunday....

...After missing two months of this season to fight recurrent cancer, Yow, 65, returned to the bench in late January, becoming only the sixth Division I women’s coach to win 700 games. The 18th-ranked Wolfpack (23-9) knocked off North Carolina, then ranked second, and became the lone victor against No. 1 Duke. The dignity and quiet determination of Yow’s struggle invigorated her players, convincing them that anything was possible with emotion and skill, even a national championship...

...On occasion while Yow took chemotherapy, her assistants came to the clinic with a magnetic board, and she helped design an offense or gave a tutorial on solving an opponent’s press. In her absence, her assistants said they felt a certain added pressure to win. Once they had followed; now they had to lead...

...As Yow descended a stairway into the practice gym, her players clapped and whooped at her presence. Some wore pink shoelaces and the breast-cancer emblem of a pink ribbon on their sneakers...

...Hands in her pockets, or folded across her chest, Yow watched from beneath the baskets, then took a seat on the sideline. Her voice was somewhat raspy from the chemotherapy, but she slipped easily into the timeless rhythm of coaching.