Bill Cowher's Wife Dies of Skin Cancer
Known for his sideline grimace and tough love coaching style has lost his best teammate, his wife.
Kaye Young Cowher, 54, the wife of former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher, died Friday after battling skin cancer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
A native of Bunn, N.C., Kaye met Bill Cowher at N.C. State in 1976, where he was a football player. Kaye and her twin sister Faye played women's basketball. Bill and Kaye married in 1981.
When it came to his retirement from football in 2007, the Post-Gazette reported, Kaye played a key role in her husband's decision. The couple moved full-time to Raleigh, so the family could be together as their daughters completed their high school and college basketball careers.
The couple's daughters — Meagan, Lauren, and Lindsay — all played Division I college basketball like their mother. Meagan and Lauren played together at Princeton, while Lindsay currently plays at Wofford.
Kaye and her sister led N.C. State to the Atlantic Coast Conference's first women's basketball title in 1978 and they also appeared in a Wrigley's Doublemint gum commercial, according to the report.
During the first go around of professional basketball for women, Kaye played one season for the New York Stars and two with the New Jersey Gems. The Women's Professional Basketball League folded in 1981.
No other information has been released, as the family is requesting privacy. Services will be held in North Carolina on Monday, according to the report.
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