Four days after the death of women’s basketball coach Kay Yow Saturday morning, students on campus and citizens in the area have continued to find ways to remember her.
Hundreds of students on campus wore pink to remember Yow and her fight against breast cancer Monday. Members of Student Government painted the Free Expression Tunnel pink and white Tuesday afternoon and pledged to keep it that way the rest of the week. The University will host a program in Reynolds Coliseum to honor Kay Yow today. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the program is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Members of University and Athletics administration and the women’s basketball coaching staff will speak. A video tribute to Yow will also be shown.
Community members have also come up with different ways to honor Yow and her memory.
Thomas Allen, a Raleigh resident and N.C. State alumnus, said he has written to Mayor Charles Meeker to attempt to develop an official day to remember Kay Yow.
“I wrote a letter about it and we were trying to put together a day or even a week for coach Yow,” he said. “I wrote before coach Yow passed so I don’t know what the plans are now.”
Allen said he also wrote Gov. Bev Perdue and even the President Barack Obama to try and continue to commemorate Yow.
“I wanted to see what anyone can do,” Allen said. “When I went to Hoops for Hope last year, I got a chance to meet coach Yow. She means a whole lot to me.”
Allen said Yow’s story hits home for him.
“Kay Yow just stands out to me as a person that never looked at herself but that was always trying to help other,” he said.
Student Body President Jay Dawkins, a junior in civil engineering, said the memory of Yow is not simply about remembering her personally.
“The big part is not only to remember her but also to be inspired by how she lived her life,” he said. “We can all learn a lot from her.”
Other events, scheduled for later this week, will continue to honor Yow and her fight against breast cancer.
Fans have been encouraged to wear pink to tonight’s women’s basketball game in honor of Yow.
Following the game, the Student Government sponsored Ram Roast will continue to protect the pink Free Expression Tunnel while also getting students prepared for the men’s game against UNC-Chapel Hill Saturday.
A public viewing will be held at Colonial Baptist Church in Cary from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday. The funeral will follow at 3 p.m.
Yow will be buried in her hometown of Gibsonville, N.C. Saturday afternoon.
Allen said he plans to continue efforts to memorialze Yow in any way possible.
“There are still a lot of things that can be done,” he said. “Somebody even mentioned to me the possibility of naming a street after her. I have not and wil not quit trying to do things in her name.”
