Jimmy V Foundation launches Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer fund

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) -- The Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research has launched an initiative honoring Wolfpack women's basketball coach Kay Yow.

The Hall of Fame coach is lending her name to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer fund. Word of the fund was announced at a news conference before No. 3 Maryland played fourth-ranked Rutgers in the sixth annual Jimmy V Women's Basketball Classic.

Yow was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. Last November, she learned she had stage four breast cancer. She missed most of N.C. State's season before returning for the Wolfpack's emotional run to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament.

Foundation chief executive Nick Valvano says Yow and his brother shared a passion for winning and that passion will now be applied to fighting cancer.

Valvano led N.C. State to the 1983 national championship. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1992, and died not long after announcing the formation of the V Foundation the following year.