On January 24, 2009, the founder of N.C . State’s women’s basketball traditions passed away after a 22-year battle with breast cancer.
Nearly 33 years before that date, a similar story ended when men’s basketball coach Everett Case passed away from inoperable cancer on April 30, 1966.
While the coaches deaths may have been far apart from one another, the tradition that each brought to their respective programs goes far beyond just wins and losses.
Following the death of Yow , Student Government unveiled a bust of the historic coach in the first phase of the Coaches’ Corner. Jeffrey Johnson, a 2011 graduate and member of student government, headed the first project and began fielding questions about when the next project would begin.
Three years later, Athletics Chair Alex Williamson and Traditions Chair Andy Walsh said they want to continue on with what Johnson started.
“When Jeffrey [Johnson] finished the first project, one question that he constantly got was, ‘Will there be a next phase?'” Walsh said. “We were good friends with Jeffrey and wanted to carry that on.
“One of our goals is to expand traditions and highlight the uniqueness of N.C . State and thought this project was very appropriate to that mission.”
The first bust was sculpted by James Barnhill from Greensboro, but Walsh said the next three busts will be offered to several artists, even those outside of the state.
“When we went into the arts acquisition process, which is where we are now, we are starting to bid out to artists in the state and nationwide,” Walsh said. “We really want to let people know that we want the garden to be bigger and not as immature as it is right now.
“We want it to eventually be a very interactive part on campus, so plans might likely change when we begin this project.”
While many fans remember Norm Sloan and Jim Valvano , the other two coaches that will be added to the coaches’ corner, for winning National Championships in 1974 and 1983, respectively, Case was memorable for many of the same reasons as Yow .
While the two coaches never won a National Championship with the Pack, the two combined to win 18 conference championships and brought the men’s and women’s basketball programs to the forefront of the national spotlight.
Walsh said that Case would be a fitting addition to the Coaches’ Corner because his path to success was very similar to Yow’s career.
“Everett Case was, in a lot of ways, the father of the ACC,” Walsh said. “He was a showman and he loved building what basketball is at N.C . State today. He never won a National Championship, but his sustained success over the years made him a perfect candidate for the Coaches’ Corner.”
Williamson said that without Case at the helm for State from 1946 through 1964, North Carolina might have a different look.
“[Case] made North Carolina a basketball state, almost single-handedly,” Williamson said. “We were well on our way in the 40s and 50s to become yet another southern football state and he came along and put a basketball hoop on every tree and every tobacco barn in this state.”
Chandler Thompson, student body president, said that without Case, the ACC itself might have never been as successful in the national basketball world.
“I don’t think that you can say that State basketball or ACC basketball would be the same without Everett Case,” Thompson said. “He started traditions like cutting down the nets and had a winning program for several years.”
