Common Ground, Kay Yow
This article describes the career of Kay Yow. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.
Citation for this article is: Morton, Linda."Common Ground," ECU Magazine, Winter 1986/1987, Vol. 1, No. 1.
ECU and North Carolina State University have something in common -- Kay Yow, NCSU's head coach for women's basketball, is a 1964 graduate of East Carolina.
The 44-year old teacher-coach is a source of pride for both universities -- in her 12 years of coaching at NCSU, she's compiled a 257-81 record; she was head coach of two United States teams that beat the Soviet Union this past summer; and in September she was named head coach of the 1988 U.S. Women's Olumpic basketball team.
"One of the reasons I love coaching national teams is because of my great love and pride for the United States," Yow says. "I'm grateful to be an American, and I'm honored to have the privilege of representing my country."
This will be Yow's second Olympics; she was an assistant coach of the gold medal-winning 1984 team in Los Angeles. "Being part of the Olympics when it's in our own country is probably one of the greatest happenings you can ever experience."she says. "I'll never forget the seas of red, white and blue and the chants of "USA, USA.'
"I wouldn't want to compare 1984 to 1988," she adds. "They're two entirely different situations. I look forward to 1988 with great anticipation. I'm sure it'll be tremendous experience."
Yow has been wowing basketball fans since her all-star years at Gibsonville High (she still holds the school's high scoring record of 52 points in one game.) Women's basketball wasn't offered at the college level when she entered East Carolina, so she played intramural ball while pursuing a degree in English.
"I didn't have a basketball career in mind at that time," she says. "I was strongly interested in teaching my favorite subject, English."
After graduation, Yow applied for a teaching job at Allen Jay High School in High Point.The principal offered her the job on the condition that she also coach girls basketball.
"I thought about it a long time before I agreed," Yow says. "When I was in high school, not very many women coached. I wasn't sure I could do it; I hadn't really been involved in basketball for four years.Intramurals were just for fun."
Yow found she enjoyed coaching and was good at it. That first year her team won the conference championship. "It wasn't due to my coaching; we had the best player in the conference," she says, "but it was a big thing because the conference was as far as you could go in those days."
Her five years at Allen Jay resulted in a 92-27 record. She left in 1969 to pursue a master's degree in physical education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
"I never planned to coach at the college level," Yow says. "But I taught part time at Elon College while I was working on my master's. When I finished my degree, Elon had an opening for a coordinator of women's athletics, coach and professor of physical education.I was hesitant, but the people at UNC-G encouraged me to apply for it."
Yow remained at Elon, compiling a 57-19 record, until 1975 when she accepted the job at NCSU. Her success at State led to her international coaching experience, where she continues to excell.The U.S. team's 83-60 victory in the Goodwill Games this past summer was the first time in 29 years that a U.S. women's team had defeated the Soviet national team in a championship game.
Two weeks later Yow's team again trounced the Soviets 108-88 in the World Championships.
"It's still hard for me to grasp," Yow says."Our athletes were very motivated; everything came together."
The 1988 Olympics will be held in Seoul, South Korea, from Sept. 17 to Oct. 8.Although the team members won't be selected until spring 1988, Yow and her staff will be busy scouting the Pan Am Games in Indianapolis, the World University Games in Yugoslavia, the European Championships in Spain and the Olympic Sports Festival in the Research Triangle area for potential players and competitors.
Yow selected as assistant coachers her sister Susan Yow, head basketball coach at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and Sylvia Hatchell, women's basketball coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, because they share similar philosophies. Compatibility will be important since the coaches and team will only have six to eight weeks of practic4e before the games.
Attitude control and the development of a team concept will be two of Yow's highest priorities for the team. "Where your focus is -- your attitude -- that makes the difference," she says. "You have to go in with a learning attitude, a giving attitude and a desire to enjoy the price that has to be paid. In international competition, you have an opportunity to learn about other people and countries, to experience life as they experience it in some small ways."
When playing the best teams in the world, far away from home and in a different environment, the key to survival is flexibility. "There's attitude control or circumstance control," she says. "Do you let your attitude control the circumstances or the circumstances control your attitude?The better we, as individuals, can adjust to our circumstances, the better change we have to be the best we can be."
Women's basketball has come a long way since Yow's years at East Carolina. "Things have really changed since I started coaching. In the beginning, we bought our own uniforms and paid for our gas to away games," she says. "In 1964 they didn't have women's basketball at the college level, let alone scholarships.Since then we've become organized for competition at the national level.Also, we now have all-star camps and summer camps to help in the development of skills in the recruiting process."
Yow has also had to deal with less than perfect conditions in her experiences with international teams. During three weeks in Mexico City in 1979 as assistant U.S. coach for the World University Games, she shared a one-bathroom apartment with nine others.
In 1981 as head coach for the World University Games, Yow and her team traveled over 3,000 miles by bus through the mountains of Yugoslavia.
For the 1983 Pan Am Games in Venezuela, no running water was available for the first week of their stay. "Sometimes we've played on outdoor courts with loose gravel," she says."There have been games where the clocks didn't work.
"You never know what the food will be like," she adds, "sometimes you don't even know what you're eating."
In addition to planning for the 1988 Olympics, Yow will be busy with the Wolfpack women, who will play ECU on Jan. 17 in Reynolds Coliseum. "I always keep an eye out for how the Pirates are doing," Yow says."That special interest is there because of the part ECU played in my life. It is always harder playing them than the other teams."
Yow remembers her years at East Carolina fondly and says she'd visit more often if her schedule allowed the time. "ECU is a part of my past, an important part of who I am," she says.
