The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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42 ■ THE WOLFPACKER State. Ultimately, he took the advice of Greensboro Daily News sports edi- tor Smith Barrier, who recommended Yow, a Gibsonville native, East Caro- lina graduate and local high school and college coach. She was the only candidate inter- viewed for the job. Yow was not able to play college bas- ketball because East Carolina didn't have women's varsity sports. It left a lifelong hole in her heart. "I think back on my high school years, and those were my best years," Yow said in a 1999 interview. "I know a lot of my friends at college have always said those were their best years, but I have always felt like something was missing from my college experience. "It was sports." Among the first things Yow did when she arrived on campus on July 1, 1975, was convince Casey to add volleyball and softball to the lineup of women's athletics. The only problem? There was no time to recruit volleyball players for the 1975 season. So, she taught some of the remaining members of Doak's first basketball team the rudiments of the game and added her eight basketball recruits to fill out the roster. That team won the AIAW 2006-07 Basketball Kay Yow had survived cancer scares in 1987 and 2004, through surgery and careful adherence to dietary modifications. However, it returned with a vengeance in the fall of 2006, forcing the pioneer- ing coach to take an extended leave of absence. After missing 16 games while receiving chemo- therapy and radiation, Yow returned in late Janu- ary and sparked a remarkable turnaround. Without question, she and the Wolfpack be- came the story of the NCAA Tournament. A No. 4 seed, NC State defeated Robert Morris and Baylor to advance to its first Sweet 16 since 2001. In the West Region final, the Wolfpack's fai- rytale season came to an end with a 78-71 loss to Connecticut, but Yow said afterward that the team would "never be forgotten." "They lost tonight, but they put their heart and soul and everything into every game," she said. "I couldn't be more proud of them." Later that summer, Yow received the inaugural Jimmy V ESPY for Perseverance, named in honor of Yow's former co-worker at NC State and long- time friend Jim Valvano. "It was a great, fun year for me," said Yow, who died of cancer on Jan. 24, 2009. "I know some people think, 'How could that be? You were bat- tling cancer.' And that really was hard. When I was at the games, I didn't have a lot of energy. But when I look back, it really was a joyous year for me." 1997-98 Basketball Led by high-scoring forward Chasity Melvin, a future WNBA standout, the Wolfpack surprised top-seeded Old Dominion in the Midwest Region opener, then earned the program's first trip to the Women's Final Four by overcoming a 10-point second-half deficit against Connecticut. Melvin carried the team through the tourna- ment, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds against the Huskies, and was a heavy contributor in a 14-0 run that decided the game. Melvin also scored 37 points in the team's final game, a loss to Louisiana Tech in the NCAA semifinals. 2021-22 Basketball The majority of the lineup from the 2021 squad, including All-American Elissa Cunane, returned, determined to better the Wolfpack's Sweet 16 finishes in the last three NCAA Tourna- ments. Mission accomplished. Wes Moore's team went 32-4, setting a school record for wins; won the Wolfpack's first outright ACC regular-season crown in 32 years; captured its third straight ACC Tournament title; was ranked No. 3 nationally in the final AP poll entering the Big Dance; earned a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament; and lost to Connecticut in double overtime in an Elite Eight showdown played in Hartford, Conn. The team's other three losses were to eventual national champion South Carolina and NCAA Tournament teams Georgia and Notre Dame. The Pack posted a 20-1 mark against ACC competi - tion. 1979-80 Cross Country With ostensibly the same lineups, the 1979-80 women's cross country teams won back-to-back AIAW championships, edging out perennial favor- ite Oregon the first year and Arizona the second. Julie Shea won the race in '79, with Betty Springs placing sixth and Valerie Ford 23rd. Shea finished first again the following year, with Springs second and Mary Shea fifth in the domi- nant performance. The '79 team became the first from NC State to win a national championship, and the Wolfpack was also the first ACC women's team to win a national title. The Pack matched that feat in 1980 and then again with the 2021 NCAA champion- ship. much money to get NC State's program started. He already had a basketball arena in Reynolds Coliseum, practice courts in Carmichael Gymnasium and a fan base that demanded success. All he needed was a coach. After the council gave its approval, Casey hired NC State alumnus Robert Renfrow "Peanut" Doak, a longtime high school and college coach and the former business manager of the Ameri- can Basketball Association's Carolina Cougars, as the interim head coach of the women's program. "I consider it a challenge to coach the women's basketball team," Doak said when he was first hired. "In time, I hope it will be a good asset to the overall ath- letic program." Along with the veteran members of the club basketball team, some 50 en- rolled female students showed up at Carmichael Gymnasium to try out for the first women's basketball team. Doak wasn't sure how many players he should keep from that group. All he knew was that he had just 15 uniforms and extremely limited practice time at Carmichael, which was also the home of men's practices, PE classes and in- tramural games, with the women's team ranking fourth on the priority list. "Things have been pretty helter-skel- ter around here," Doak said. "I'm not happy with being able to get in only one hour of real practice, but I guess there's not much that can be done unless an- other Carmichael comes along and gives us money to build another gym." Despite limited practice, no recruiting and few initial resources, Doak guided the first women's basketball team to an 11-4 record and the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women's state Class-B championship in his only season at the helm. He also had an immeasurable impact on the future of women's athletics by assisting Casey in hiring the state of North Carolina's first full-time direc- tor of women's athletics and basketball coach: Elon College's Sandra Kay Yow. Program Changer Casey had a knack and a network for finding talented coaches. He spent a year looking for the perfect per- son to start women's athletics at NC NC State's Top Women's Teams