Longtime North Carolina State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow died Saturday, January 24, after a long battle with breast cancer. School officials said Yow, 66, had been supported by her family and her staff in the last several days and was even able to visit with her entire team at WakeMed Cary Hospital earlier this week.

Yow, who was in her 38th year of coaching, announced earlier this month that she would not continue leading her team for the remainder of the season so that she could fight the disease that she had overcome in the past but that had recently returned.

“Kay Yow was among the most influential figures in the history of women’s basketball," said NCAA President Myles Brand. "In the way she approached life, she touched thousands of lives directly through her legendary coaching career, but millions more have and will benefit from her courage in the face of great illness. She will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with Kay’s family and North Carolina State University during this difficult time."

Sue Donohoe, NCAA vice president for women's basketball, called Yow "a champion in every sense of the word." 

"There are really no other words to adequately describe Coach Yow, her impact and influence on so many young women and on so many of us in the women’s basketball community. She has been an inspiration and a guiding light," Donohoe said.

Division I Women's Basketball Committee Chair Jacki Silar said Yow contributed greatly to the growth of women’s basketball and the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. "In her lifetime," Silar said, "Kay touched the lives of thousands of student-athletes, coaches and fans and effected change. She was visionary. She was passionate and committed. She embodied all that is right and good in collegiate athletics. She will remain an inspiration for generations to come.”

One of the most admired and respected coaches on the national and international scenes, Yow was one of only six Division I head women’s basketball coaches to achieve 700 career victories (737 overall). Yow guided her squads to 20 of the 27 NCAA tournaments, 11 trips to the Sweet 16, and a trip to the Elite Eight and Final Four in 1998. She also collected five Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championships, four ACC tournament titles and 29 winning seasons.

In the 2005-06 season at the helm of the Wolfpack, Yow became the first women’s basketball coach in ACC history and fifth in NCAA history to coach 900 games at the same school. Also that year, Yow became the fourth Division I head women’s coach to surpass 1,000 career games on the sideline.

Four games into the 2006-07 season, Yow was forced to take a leave of absence because of progression in her breast cancer, which was originally diagnosed in 1987. Yow missed roughly two months (16 games) that season, but fought back to make a triumphant return to the bench in a win over long-time rival Virginia on January 26.

The team won 10 of its next 11 games, which included Yow’s 700th career victory and a win over No. 2 North Carolina. That evening on Senior Night, the Reynolds Coliseum court was christened “Kay Yow Court.”

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley presented Yow with the Laurel Wreath Award, the state’s highest sports recognition, before the NCAA tournament game with Baylor. In April that year, Yow was selected for a Naismith Award for her outstanding contribution to women’s basketball and during the ACC tournament, Yow and Virginia coach Debbie Ryan, both cancer survivors, were co-recipients of the 2007 Bob Bradley Spirit and Courage Award.

In December 2007, the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund in partnership with The V Foundation was established as a charitable organization committed to finding an answer in the fight against women’s cancers. Five months earlier, Yow won the inaugural Jimmy V ESPY for Perseverance at the 2007 ESPY Awards.

Yow began coaching at the high school level for five years before becoming the head coach at Elon. Yow joined North Carolina State in 1975 as the women’s basketball head coach and head coach of both the softball and volleyball teams.

For more about Yow's life, see the North Carolina State Web site.