NC State Wolfpack holding ‘Victory Over Cancer’ baseball game Sunday as fundraiser
Mindful of the success of the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic and the annual Play4Kay women’s basketball games, N.C. State baseball coach Elliott Avent wants to do his part in raising funds for cancer research and to raise more awareness about the disease.
The answer: the first “Victory Over Cancer” game, set Sunday at 1 p.m. when the Pack hosts Ball State at Doak Field.
The date – April 28 – is meaningful. Valvano, who coached the Pack to the magical basketball national championship run in 1983, died of cancer on April 28, 1993. Women’s coach Kay Yow, who took the Pack to a Final Four and won an Olympic gold medal for the U.S., was claimed by cancer in 2009.
“Two of the biggest legends who ever walked on this campus, and what they have done for cancer (research) is maybe as great as any two people,’”Avent said this week.
The Jimmy V Golf Classic – plus continued support from ESPN – raised more than $13 million for the V Foundation during its long run. The Play4Kay games during the women’s basketball seasons and the Kay Yow Cancer Fund have contributed more than $8 million for research nationally.
Avent wanted the “Victory Over Cancer” game to benefit the fight against pediatric cancer. He said he has a nephew, Shane, who is 9 years old and is battling brain cancer, but with such an uplifting spirit that it can leave the coach with tears in his eyes.
“They have to deal with things that break your heart,” Avent said.
Avent enlisted the support of former Wolfpack star Trea Turner and his wife, Kristen, a former State gymnast, in the effort. Turner, an MLB veteran and former All-Star now with the Phillies, agreed to join in the initiative and the Turners will work under the umbrella of the V Foundation.
“As great as Coach Valvano and Coach Yow were, and they were great coaches, the thing they’re remembered for across the country is Jimmy V and his great (ESPY) speech and what he did for creating dollars for research for cancer, and coach Yow and what she did for women’s cancer,” Avent said.
Avent noted a highlight of each Play4Kay game is having many cancer survivors take the court at halftime and be recognized. It is always an emotional scene with a pink hue, and a visible reminder that much has been done to successfully defeat the disease and keep it in remission.
Avent, in turn, hopes to one day have a baseball field filled with children at the game.
“I’ve got a hundred pictures of kids we’re going to flash on the scoreboard,” he said of Sunday’s game.
The Pack also will wear new-look uniforms for the special game with a cancer-awareness theme.
Avent, in his 28th year at NCSU, said the initiative came together quickly. He talked with Turner. He talked to the V Foundation. He then took the idea to his players.
Avent discussed it with infielder Matt Heavner and pitcher Win Scott, who serve on the NCSU’s student-athlete advisory committee. They discussed it with their teammates, then advanced the idea to athletic director Boo Corrigan for approval.
“This school, with the history of fighting cancer, this is really awesome,” Heavner said of the game, “I’m just glad I can help push it forward and keep getting the message across, so we can hopefully end cancer one day.”
Avent said more than $80,000 initially had been raised and donations can be made through the V Foundation.
“My whole life has been at N.C. State and wherever I leave here … I want to leave something that’s outside the realm of baseball,” Avent said.
