Apex, N.C. — The congregation of Cary Alliance Church on Sunday remembered Sunday the life of North Carolina State University women's basketball coach Kay Yow. Yow, 66, died Saturday after a decades-long fight against breast cancer.

“Everybody in the congregation loved her dearly. It was a special thing to be part of her life,” church member Dick Perkins said.

“As her pastor for 20 years, I really love this sister in Christ very, very much,” Pastor Mitchell Gregory said.

“You'd see Kay probably 20 or 30 times a year at church," member Jerald Rush said. “Kay just wanted to be a normal churchgoer. She didn't really want a lot of attention."

Yow announced earlier this month that she would not return to the team this season as she continued her fight against the disease that was first diagnosed in 1987. The recurred during the 2004-05 season, forcing her to miss two games that year and then again in 2006, when she missed 16 more games in the 2006-07 season.

“The last few weeks that she was in the service, before I'd seat her in the congregation, I'd tell her how much I was praying for her and how much I loved her,” Perkins said.

Yow had been in the hospital since last week, and Gregory says everyone was praying she would pull through again.

“To be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord, and that is a great promise,” Gregory said.

Gregory will deliver part of the eulogy at Yow's funeral service, and he said it would not be easy for him.

“I cannot succeed on Friday. There's no way to adequately sum up a life well-lived. What I'm counting on, and what I'm sure others who will speak are counting on, is that her life has been so lived in public that it's its own commentary and its own testimony,” Gregory said.

“I'm so glad she's not hurting. I won't see the pain in her face, and she'll be with Christ," Perkins said.

Yow won more than 700 games in a career filled with milestones. She coached the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in 1988, won four Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championships, earned 20 NCAA tournament bids and reached the Final Four in 1998.

But for many fans, Yow was best defined by her unwavering resolve while fighting cancer. She raised awareness and money for research and stayed with her team through many of the debilitating effects of the disease. N.C. State's student government is encouraging everyone to wear pink Monday in Yow's honor.

Duke basketball fans, UNC Tar Heels remember Yow

When fourth-ranked Duke claimed their 15th straight victory Sunday over Georgia Tech, 60-34, fans at the game were remembering Yow, and some wore pink shoelaces in her honor.

For its game at the University of Maryland, the UNC women's team wore pink warmup suits and pink uniforms in Yow's honor. Maryland wore pink warmups.

“The tremors of it are felt across women's college basketball, and it's a very sad thing for one of the pioneers of the women's game to pass away,” said Abby Waner, Duke basketball guard.

“She had been battling breast cancer for a long, long time and she was a really good woman and set an example for many kids,” said Ashley Thornton, youth basketball player.

“You can see how it has touched everybody in the state of North Carolina. I think everybody is very, very upset that she has passed,” Duke fan Judy Woodburn said.

“I just get a really warm, really good feeling when I think of Kay Yow, and I admire her longevity," said Joanne P. McCallie, Duke basketball head coach.

“She definitely made this world a better place,” said MaChelle Joseph, Georgia Tech basketball head coach.

Former University of North Carolina President Emeritus William Friday told WRAL News on Sunday that Yow exemplified what it meant to be a coach.

She was “a person of real integrity, really intelligent in her work, very inspirational to her young people and she followed them. And Kay Yow’s impact upon the sport will be long, long lasting,” Friday said.

Funeral arrangements for Yow

A public viewing will be held Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Colonial Baptist Church in Cary. A funeral will follow at 3 p.m.

Burial will take place Saturday, Jan. 31, at 10 a.m. at Gibsonville Cemetery in Gibsonville.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund and mailed to:

The V Foundation for Cancer Research
106 Towerview Court
Cary, N.C. 27513

or

Cary Alliance Church
4108 Ten Ten Road
Apex, N.C. 27539