On Feb. 13, MATC hosted the third annual “Pink Out” for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund at Alverno College. MATC basketball players, both men and women, wore pink jerseys during their games against the Madison Wolfpack. All proceeds went to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

Kay Yow was a very influential coach in women’s college  basketball. Yow was the head coach of the North Carolina State Wolf Pack from 1975-2009, and was inducted into the Women’s College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Jeff Lorenz, head coach of the MATC Lady Stormers, attributed a lot of the success of women’s college basketball to Coach Kay, going as far as calling her the “Godfather of Women’s Coaching.”

Coach Yow had her off-court struggles with cancer, which prompted the creation of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. In 1987, Yow was first diagnosed with cancer, but that did not stop her from coaching the U.S. women’s basketball team to a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics.

Since its inception, in 2007, the Kay Yow Cancer Fund has raised over $5 million. The money is dedicated to breast cancer research and treatment. 

Both coaches for MATC were really excited to be a part in the Play4Kay basketball games.

Randy Casey, head coach of the MATC men’s basketball team, talked about how special these games were for him because last year he and his family found out that his mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Specifically, Casey stated, “I’m excited that basketball is able to help awareness of a disease that hits so close to home for me. With nothing but success in the program’s past, I see no reason why Play4Kay couldn’t become a staple event in MATC basketball for years to come.”