Many people view the sports world through an extremely narrow lens. It looks something like this: overpaid, steroid-fueled athletes playing silly games, in which they choreograph touchdown dances and through which they gain fame and fortune and have open access to anyone with a microphone. It’s a world filled with vapid competitors, greedy managers and overpriced hot dogs.
At times, it’s hard to see sports any other way.
Every now and then, though, a story rises to the surface that reminds us of the human element of sports. In some even rarer cases, it reminds us of the humane element of sports.
Kay Yow’s fight against cancer is one of those stories. While at N.C. State, she coached the women’s basketball team to 737 wins, four conference championships and 20 NCAA Tournament appearances. When Yow was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, she didn’t miss a beat. Instead of wallowing, Yow coached the 1988 U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal. She continued to coach, continued to fight and left indelible imprints on all those with whom she came into contact.
This past Saturday, Yow passed away. The Hall of Fame coach turned cancer spokesperson left behind an enduring legacy of courage, strength and humility — not to mention success.
Nobody is more familiar with that legacy than Virginia women’s basketball coach Debbie Ryan. The long-time Cavalier coach first met Yow back in the late 1970s.
“When I came into the conference 32 years ago, Kay was one of the coaches who was there to welcome and teach me,” Ryan said. “I was a young coach, and she really helped me to understand what it is to be a basketball coach in the ACC; in this conference, we are comrades and friends first and competitors second. She taught me that early, and I’ve tried to carry it on.”
The camaraderie and friendship that existed between Yow and Ryan may have started off with a handshake and a few nice words after a N.C. State and Virginia game, but in the following years, it grew. When Ryan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2000, the two formed a bond tighter than any 1-point overtime game. From that point forward, Yow and Ryan were in a situation to which few could relate as they battled a life-threatening illness.
“These last eight years we’ve spent a great deal of time as cancer survivors together,” Ryan said. “Just being together and talking about the different issues that you go through as a cancer survivor — that bonded us in a way that was very special and dear to me.”
From their respective platforms as ACC basketball coaches, Yow and Ryan not only successfully fought the disease but also spread awareness of it. During rounds of golf, the two talked about the hardships of chemotherapy, planned for a fundraiser and — of course — discussed their teams’ prospects for the upcoming season.
In this case, sports brought together two competitors and gave each a shoulder to lean on as they endured one of life’s toughest obstacles.
While the media covered Terrell Owens’ loud mouth, Yow and Ryan were in the background, coaching and fighting. When the press covered the steroid scandal, both were still in the background, still coaching and fighting. And throughout all of the multi-million dollar contract signings, all the touchdown dances and all of the bench-clearing brawls and hockey fights in the past eight years, there were Yow and Ryan in the background — coaching and fighting.
“We never shied away from it,” Ryan said. “We helped each other with that. She [Yow] was still trying to walk when she had no skin on the bottom of her feet. She was still trying to get out to fundraisers and speaking engagements. And the weather would bother her — everything would bother her. But she persevered ... she never stopped, right up through the very end.”
Yow and Ryan’s shared stories are a testament to courage. They show the type of compassion and strength that sports can sow.
Even more, it shows the type of awareness that sports can bring to one of life’s highest hurdles.
“In our lifetime, it may not happen,” Ryan said of eradicating cancer. “But it could happen for the children of this lifetime — or the children of our players’ lifetime.”
Now that’s a story from the sports world worth following.
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