Basketball Teams to Host Cancer Awareness Night
Tonight's double header basketball games at the New Caney High School gym will look a little different. There will be a lot of pink-- on the court and off the court-- for Cancer Awareness Night. It's an initiative prompted by the Coaches vs. Cancer collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The campaign empowers basketball coaches, their teams, and local communities to make a difference in the fight against cancer. Girls Head Basketball Coach James Bryant says cancer hits close to home for many of his coaches, so this was something they all felt strongly about doing.
Proceeds from ticket sales at tonight's (11/17) Lady Eagles vs. Caney Creek game at 6 p.m. and Eagles vs. Livingston game at 7:30 p.m. will go to the American Cancer Society and the Kay Yow Women's Basketball Coaches Association Cancer Fund. Tickets are $2 for students and $3 for adults.
The girls will warm up in pink t-shirts, and the coaching staff will be wearing pink for breast cancer awareness. The players will also be throwing pink t-shirts to fans, instead of the blue shirts normally given out. Shirts can also be purchased at the game, with all proceeds going to ACS or the Yow fund.
Coaches vs. Cancer evolved from a concept championed by Norm Stewart, former head coach of the University of Missouri's men's basketball program, cancer survivor, and member of the NABC. He started the program by challenging fans to pledge a dollar amount for every three points made by his team during the season.
The American Cancer Society and the NABC adopted that concept in 1993 and transformed it into a nationwide effort to unite coaches across the country in the common mission to provide help and hope to all people facing cancer. Today, more than 2,000 Division I, II, and III college coaches are involved in the program. Coaches vs. Cancer has raised nearly $50 million since its inception. Additionally, more than 100 high school coaches also participate in the program.
Kay Yow was a former North Carolina State University head women's basketball coach and a past president and founding member of the WBCA. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, and died in January 2009, after facing her third bout with the disease. Yow was also the head coach of the 1988 US Olympic Team that won the gold medal in Seoul.
