SPorTS NEWS
Abbey’s Show of Support
Lifts Coach’s Grieving Heart By Susan Shackelford
It may have been Friday the 13th but there was nothing unlucky about it. It was indicative of the divine providence that Coach Susan Yow believes led her to Belmont Abbey to coach the women’s basketball team. on February 13, Yow had finished going over a scouting report with Assistant Coach Sarah Jansen when several players from the team led Yow into the lockerroom. Hanging there were pink uniforms, each one with “KAY” on the back —in honor of her sister Kay Yow, the women’s basketball coach at N.C. State, who had died nearly three weeks earlier from breast cancer. “I was thrilled … and emotionally touched,” Yow says. “It meant a great deal because so many division I teams across the country were wearing pink uniforms in honor of Kay and I had been unable to accommodate our team due to the obvious economic crunch — and she was my sister,” continues Yow, who has headed Belmont Abbey’s division II program for two years. “My team, of all teams along with N.C. State’s team, should be in pink.” 62 Crossroads
The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College
Yow had looked into procuring pink uniforms earlier in the season to get ready for “Pink Zone Week,” February 14-21, a promotion to raise money and awareness about breast cancer. When Kay died on January 24 after a long fight against the disease, assistant coach Jansen went into action. “We had a secret meeting over here — Coach (Yow) had no idea,” Jansen recalls. Two of the school’s suppliers, New Balance and double B Sports, agreed to pay for the uniforms and even threw in longsleeve shooting shirts. The cost was about $1,000. “To me the pink uniforms was the least we could do on behalf of Susan and to honor Kay,” Jansen says. But the fact is, the school did much more. “Belmont Abbey really walked this journey with me,” Yow says. Spring 2009