" When I see anything in my office, I am immediately reminded of the people that were involved that helped make that possible."

- NC State University women's basketball head coach Kay Yow

During her 33-year tenure at the helm of the NC State women's basketball program, Wolfpack head coach Kay Yow has guided her teams to more than 650 victories and an abundance of NCAA tournament appearances.

Just a few steps off of the historic Reynolds Coliseum hardwood — rechristened "Kay Yow Court" a season ago — basketball memorabilia lines the halls of Yow's office, each piece helping to recall the great moments in a coaching career that began more than four decades ago.

Plaques commemorating Yow's lifelong service to the community compete for space with images celebrating the 1988 U.S. Olympic team, which won gold in Seoul, Korea, under her watch.

"I graduated from high school in 1960, and if you told me then that a girl from Gibsonville, NC, was going to be an Olympic coach, would be elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, I never would have believed it," Yow said. "There was no way to really dream about any of these things because so many of them — they didn't exist at that time for women."

Then there are items of a more personal nature — those that bring inspiration to the Wolfpack coach as she battles breast cancer for the third time since 1987.

"I feel a lot better right now than I did last year," Yow said. "Last year, somehow God helped me to just put one foot in front of the other and get to a practice and get to games and do it.

"This season, I'm much more involved with the team on the court, on the sidelines and in every way," she said. "I just feel God has blessed me in a special way to allow me to be at NC State University and to have this kind of opportunity."

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