Associated Press
RALEIGHó The door to Kay Yow’s office in Reynolds Coliseum remains open, the lights on inside. It’s as though the Hall of Fame coach has merely stepped away from her desk to grab lunch or run a brief errand.
Less than three weeks after her death, Yow’s presence is still felt strongly in the North Carolina State women’s basketball program she left behind. And that might never be more true than this weekend when the Wolfpack holds the annual event Yow created to raise awareness of the disease that ultimately took her life.
Sunday marks the fourth “Hoops 4 Hope” game, which helps raise money for the cancer research fund in Yow’s name. The event is sold out for the first time, bringing Yow’s long fight back to the forefront once again.
“She always looked at this as a game that would provide hope for so many cancer survivors and for so many people who are having difficulties in their lives,” said interim coach Stephanie Glance, an assistant to Yow for 15 seasons. “There’s such great energy and such great cause that it’s so uplifting.”
That energy is something Glance figures her team needs as it continues to grieve heading into Sunday’s game against No. 17 Virginia. The Wolfpack (10-14, 2-7 ACC) has lost eight of 10 games, a stretch that began when Yow had to take leave from the team in December due to extremely low energy. She later announced she wouldn’t return this season before being admitted to a hospital, where she spent about a week before her death Jan. 24.
Yow was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. The disease recurred during the 2004-05 season and lingered in the years since.
The first “Hope” game came against Maryland in 2006 and raised $27,000 through donations and auctions for a local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The next year, the event raised about $44,000.