Pink Zone Game a red-hot success
Started by the WBCA at the college level five years ago to support the Kay Yow Cancer Fund – founded by former North Carolina State head coach Kay Yow, who lost her battle with breast cancer in 2009 at the age of 66 – West Holmes was one of the first high schools in the country to host a Pink Zone game, back in 2008, as Yoder (a WBCA member who lost both of her parents to cancer) and company chose to use the first two events in the Dungeon simply to educate and raise awareness about breast cancer, before turning their efforts to fundraising a year ago.
"I thought our fans did a great job of supporting us," said Yoder after watching the Dungeon become a sea of pink, adorned in pink balloons, with fans, coaches and players of both teams sporting pink T-shirts and other attire. "So many people were wearing pink. Our fans are great anyway, but many, many, many of them were wearing pink and obviously making donations through the raffles and the T-shirts. So I just couldn't be more pleased. I'm just really happy."
Items raffled off included two specially marked Pink Zone Game basketballs – one signed by all the JV players and the other containing the signatures from all of the varsity participants – two gift baskets and a pink-and-white colored cube cooler emblazoned with a pink breast cancer awareness ribbon.
"I'm glad we're a part of it. It's great. I think it's important," said Lady Knights head coach Lisa Patterson, whose team all wore Pink Zone Game T-shirts during pregame warm ups – along with all of the Lady Rams players from Madison – and sported pink headbands and socks during the game. "I think it's awesome that we do it, but all the credit goes to Marlyce and the parents that help organize it."
One of those parents, Diane Martin (the mother of JV point guard Kendra Martin) donated a lot of time and effort to help organize the event, calling local businesses for donations, putting together the gift baskets, coordinating all the fundraising efforts in the commons area of West Holmes High School before, during and after the basketball game, and doing "a lot of little things you don't think about."
Like dying 20 pairs of white socks just the right shade of pink.
"I dyed them all," said Martin, who also explained that as an employee at Pomerene Hospital, "I see a lot of different things and it's become more of a personal thing. I really care and it's a good cause. I haven't been touched personally by breast cancer, but I lost two grandmothers to cancer."
Echoing Martin's sentiments, West Holmes JV coach Mike Molnar added, "It means a lot because everybody has been touched by, or knows somebody who has been diagnosed with, breast cancer, or just cancer in general. Personally for me, my mom had lung cancer and ended up dying from brain cancer, so even though this is to bring awareness to breast cancer it also gets personal when you think of everybody that's touched by cancer in one form or another."
During the week before the Pink Zone Game, Yoder invited Killbuck Elementary School teacher and breast cancer survivor Sheryl Rogers to speak with the team. During that discussion, Rogers expressed her appreciation for the courage shown by the West Holmes players to step on the court and give their best effort night after night, comparing the qualities needed to be a successful high school basketball player to the qualities she needed to help her get through every day after being diagnosed with breast cancer 20 years ago.
Rogers also challenged each of the kids to understand the positive impact they have had on many people throughout the community, and to continue to be involved with those people, in much the same way Rogers continues to be involved with those who had a positive impact on her during her recovery process.
"We didn't really know the history," explained West Holmes freshman forward Laina Snyder. "In previous years we never had a speaker, but this year [Coach Yoder] decided we might as well learn something about it because that's the whole point of it. I think Sheryl Rogers' story really hit all of us and made us realize what we're playing for tonight."
Added Laina Snyder's older sister and West Holmes senior post player, Lindsy Snyder, "[Coach Yoder] told us to go out there and be proud that you're playing for this organization that is supporting something good, so I think it's special to do something good like that. I think it's really special to be a part of something like that."
In addition to the education of the team, the radiology department from Pomerene Hospital set up a display in the commons area and handed out informative brochures, while additional fundraising came in the form of 50 percent of the sales of 50-50 tickets being donated by the Athletic Boosters and a flat-fee donation from the Music Boosters.
"It's just a real great thing for a real great cause," said West Holmes athletic director Todd Day. "The people really support it. They buy the T-shirts; they take part in the raffles. They'll have a decent check to donate when it's all said and done."
And while Yoder was obviously on the bench during the Lady Knights game against Madison – won by West Holmes 55-23 – she was touched by a story relayed to her by Martin, who was approached by a Madison fan in the commons area who said, "Unfortunately, our fans don't support our girls like your fans do and I don't know if we could pull something like this off. But, this is pretty awesome."
Kay Yow is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, having won more than 700 games while leading the North Carolina State women's basketball team from 1975 until shortly before her passing in 2009. Yow was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, a year before leading the United States women's basketball team to a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. When Yow was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002, she became only the fifth women's coach to be enshrined.
"Coach Yow was a great woman and a great coach, regardless of having had breast cancer," said Molnar. "This whole thing means more because it's not some mandate that everybody has to do. It's people who realize a good thing and they want to get involved with it."
For the fifth straight year, between Feb. 11 and Feb. 20, women's college basketball teams throughout the country will wear pink to help support the fund, which has raised $3.5 million for cancer research in a relatively short period of time.
Those wishing to make a donation directly to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund can do so online at http://www.kayyow.com.
Published: February 10, 2011
