Kay Yow was memorialized by a bronze statue on Tuesday in what has become the Coaches’ Corner next to Reynolds Stadium.  A student passing by the memorial asked who Kay Yow was.  This is an alarming question that warrants a quick reminder about how important it is to know N.C. State’s history.

There is no way anyone can mention Kay Yow without thinking N.C. State, or vice versa.  Kay Yow was the women’s basketball coach for 38 years, until she had to step down in 2009 after battling cancer for 22 years.  She passed away in January 2009, leaving the University with “a heavy heart,” according to then Athletic Director Lee Fowler.  Yow’s contributions to basketball, the University and the country were an amazing testament to her legend.

As students attending this University, we need to know the history of our institution.  We are an insult to its rich past if we cannot acknowledge what has come before us and what has made it possible to get us to where we are.  Our University’s humble beginnings were in agriculture and engineering, a tradition that continues today.  Two of our largest colleges are the Colleges of Engineering and Agriculture and Life Sciences. 

A walk through east campus is a like a walk back in time.  Our predecessors, both men and women, blacks and whites, lived and went to school in this area.  Carvings in the brick walls and old rumors that our rivalry with UNC-Chapel Hill started when UNC students urinated in the old well in Yarborough Square echo a past that still affects us today.  Moving to Central Campus, the 1950s and 60s produced the dominating brick architecture and our landmark Brickyard.  We would still be walking through a dirt field without these buildings.

Knowing our past enriches our experience at N.C. State.  Going to class and being involved with organizations on campus assures us we have become a part of the history of the University.  We will one day look back and be able to say, “yes, I was there.  I was a part of that.”  We will be proud of our accomplishments and see more meaning in our experiences.

All of this stems from taking pride in the identity of our University.  Knowing our roots and the history of this institution are ways we can do that.  Remember, we are the lifeblood of our University, both its future and its past.