Perkins –
Mount Airy senior tennis player Owen Perkins is organizing a “Play4Kay” fundraiser against cancer to be held on Jan. 25, 2019 during the Granite Bears’ basketball games with Bishop McGuinness. – John Cate | The News
The Mount Airy athletic program has taken part in numerous projects to help eliminate cancer over the years, and will be continuing the tradition next month.
For his graduation project, MAHS senior Owen Perkins is directing the first-ever Play4Kay game to be held at Mount Airy High School on Jan. 25, 2019, when the Granite Bears take on the Bishop McGuinness Villains.
Perkins, a member of the Mount Airy men’s tennis team that reached the 1A West final a year ago, posted a 13-5 season for the Bears in 2017 and is expected to be back on the courts this spring. However, before he seeks to vanquish Cardinals, Villains and Sauras on the tennis courts, he’ll be taking on cancer first.
Play4Kay is a nationwide initiative that raises money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund in the fight against all women’s cancers. The Play4Kay Initiative began during the 2004-2005 basketball season, shortly after namesake Coach Kay Yow, the head women’s basketball coach at NC State between 1975 and 2009, was diagnosed with cancer for the second time after 17 years of remission.
Yow won 737 games in 38 seasons as a head coach at Elon and NC State and took the Wolfpack to the Final Four in 1998. She won the ACC regular-season championship five times and the tournament four times, sweeping both titles in 1980 and 1985. She also coached the U.S. National Team to a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics. Having already survived cancer once, in 1987, Yow was active in the fight against it all the way to her death.
She was the recipient of the inaugural Jimmy V ESPY Award for Perseverance and was on pace for 1,000 NCAA Division I coaching wins. One of Coach Yow’s core beliefs was the #PowerOfOne. Coach Yow believed that any person that cared enough could change the game on and off the court. One person. One dollar. One life saved.
Since 2007, Play4Kay has been adopted by nearly every college basketball team in the country, with several high schools participating as well. The Kay Yow Cancer Fund was founded that year and has raised over $5.63 million to fight women’s cancers. These funds are given as grants to institutions performing cancer research, with the most recent grants being awarded to the REX Healthcare Foundation, the University of Indiana, and the University of Texas.
Anyone interested in donating may visit the MAHS Fundraising Play4Kay Page at https://support.kayyow.com/team/199137 and join Owen and the Bears for Play4Kay Night on Friday, Jan. 25 at Mount Airy High School.
Event organizers are also looking for cancer survivors to join us on-court for the presentation of the check. Cancer survivors wishing to participate are asked to email [email protected] or call (336) 757-6147.
Official 2018-2019 Play4Kay t-shirts are also available for pre-sale. Long sleeve shirts are $15 and short sleeve shirts are $12. Cash and checks (payable to Mount Airy High School). Shirts will be on pre-sale until December 20th. An extremely limited amount will be available for purchase on Play4Kay Night.
Perkins
Mount Airy senior tennis player Owen Perkins is organizing a “Play4Kay” fundraiser against cancer to be held on Jan. 25, 2019 during the Granite Bears’ basketball games with Bishop McGuinness.
Reach John via Twitter at @johncate73.
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