The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1487679
40 ■ THE WOLFPACKER "I knew all my life that I wanted to be a coach," Gillespie said. "My grandfather coached for 58 years. My dad was a bas- ketball coach in high school and college. "Then watching and studying Coach Yow, she made such a positive impact on all my teammates' lives. That's who she was for us all. She was so well respected, well known and well loved by everyone. There was nothing else I would rather do than become a coach like her." 'I Want To Be Here' So, how exactly did the wily Yow trick Gillespie — a Kodak All-America high school player in Tallahassee, Fla., prior to her college career — into choosing NC State when she decided to transfer from Auburn following her freshman season? When Gillespie was on her recruit- ing trip to Raleigh after Gannon recom- mended her to Yow, she had no inten- tion of making a commitment before returning home to Tallahassee to talk to her involved and informed family. She also had recruiting trips planned to Duke and some other schools. "We were at the airport, and Coach Yow was saying goodbye," Gillespie re- called. "Right before I got on the plane, she said, 'Close your eyes and imagine yourself having a great day. Everything is perfect. Where do you want to be?'" "I want to be here," Gillespie said. "Well, I guess you're coming here then," Yow said. "I'll see you when school starts." So, she surprisingly committed to the Wolfpack before she ever left town, without consulting those closest to her or visiting any other schools. "She totally tricked me," Gillespie said, laughing appreciatively. Gillespie was a natural floor leader in her four years in the Wolfpack program, one while sitting out after her transfer from Auburn and three as a backcourt starter for Yow and the Wolfpack. In- juries dampened her sophomore and senior seasons, but when fully healthy as a junior in 1997-98, Gillespie bonded with frontcourt starters Chasity Melvin and Summer Erb, and the Wolfpack ad- vanced to the NCAA Final Four for the first and only time of Yow's career. After earning a degree in parks, recre- ation and tourism in 1999, Gillespie went back to Tallahassee to become a girls high school coach. When the breast cancer Yow beat in 1988 returned in 2006 and the coach was forced to take an extended leave of absence in 2008, she asked Gil- lespie to return to State to become a spe- cial assistant to the head coach. Among her duties was to serve as the color analyst for the Wolfpack's radio broadcasts and, when Yow was too sick to recruit, go on the road in her place. Gillespie helped organize what has become a popular player reunion at the annual Hoops4Hope, and in 2007 she and broadcaster Debbie Antonelli asked every NCAA women's coach to wear pink in Yow's honor during that week- end celebration. That has evolved into the Play For Kay phenomena that is now standard for just about every college, high school and junior high team in all sports across the country. She was part of Yow's staff for the legendary coach's last two years, and on Gillespie inherited an Illinois State program that hadn't won more than 10 games in any of the four seasons prior to her arrival. In her first five years as head coach, the Redbirds put together three 19-win seasons and reached the NCAA Tournament last year. PHOTO COURTESY ILLINOIS STATE ATHLETICS