Kay Yow, a postscript

It has now been more than a week since Kay Yow passed away, and the outpouring of grief and remembrance, both within the N.C. State community and outside it, has started to subside. Life is starting to return to normal, albeit without a pillar of the local sports scene.

So it's a little late for this little anecdote, which never made our coverage of her death or funeral, but it's worth telling because it offers a little insight into the passion Yow brought to everything she did, and how persuasive her infectious enthusiasm could be.

About two weeks before Yow died, I spoke with Pat Summitt, the legendary Tennessee women's coach, about Yow. In the middle of our conversation, she told me a story about the two working together on the 1984 women's Olympic team, and how Yow got Summitt started on a habit that would stick for life.

"She was so positive and good and she got me into race-walking of all things," Summitt said. "We went for long walks and I guess from that time forward, I just felt a real bond and friendship with a woman of great strength and great character."

Did you say race-walking, I asked?

"That’s what she was doing," Summitt replied. "I had been mainly running. She said, 'Pat, you ought to just go racewalk with me.' I mean, I've never seen a woman walk that fast in my life. We would walk for miles. We lost weight. I always thought running was the way to burn the calories and lose weight. That woman could walk faster than any woman I’ve ever been around in my life. She could flat-out fly."