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CARY -- The day before Kay Yow was to be quietly laid to rest in her hometown, she was given a triumphal procession by those who loved her.

In a stirring ceremony planned in part by the late N.C. State women's basketball coach herself, Yow was eulogized, honored and praised in words and in song. But eventually, the voices and instruments went quiet as Yow herself delivered a sermon that no one inside Colonial Baptist Church will ever forget.

In the weeks before she died after a long fight with cancer, she taped a personal testimonial to be played at her own service. As choirs stood in silence and crashing cymbals went quiet, the lights were dimmed inside a massive worship center that is sometimes used for basketball games. On two giant screens above a floor packed with people, Yow's smiling face suddenly appeared. She admitted the effect seemed "eerie," but she said it was important to her that she handle the most important part of the funeral herself. Then she started telling stories.

Today's ceremony in Gibsonville, where she was born and raised, is expected to be quiet and solemn. Friday afternoon, with about a thousand people watching, Yow recited scripture from heart, read poems she'd written herself and related stories of the most important victory in her life.

"And now I say farewell," she said at the end of the moving testimony. "It's been a wonderful journey, especially since the time I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior."

She fought breast cancer for more than 20 years, won Olympic gold medals, took her N.C. State basketball team to a Final Four, 12 ACC championship games and 20 NCAA tournaments. Her N.C. State and Elon teams won more than 700 games, and in 2002 she was enshrined in the basketball hall of fame. But despite all the fame and achievement on the basketball court, Yow said her greatest moment in life was when she embraced her Christian faith and changed her life.

"It has changed the life of every person who has accepted him," she said.

Yow fought it at first, like she fought so many things in her life. She told the story of how a young campus ministry worker came by her office day after day after day, asking permission to speak with the team. And how the State coach tried to put off the meeting, how she made up excuses and delayed and evaded having her team listen to the young woman.

When she eventually relented and listened in on the meeting herself, she ended up being the only one saved.

Yow's life was celebrated by the sport's biggest names. Hundreds of coaches and former players and fans and members of the N.C. State community flocked to the church Friday afternoon to see her one last time, to see their coach, friend, mentor and teacher lie in state on a hardwood floor with the outlines of a basketball court under her.

The combined choirs from two churches, a pianist, a harpist and an orchestra complete with timpani and trumpets sang powerful hymns before a crowded auditorium and live television cameras.

Among those in the crowd were Pat Summitt, the head coach at Tennessee and the winningest college basketball coach of all time.

Summitt shook her head as she walked from the service. She said she'd never seen anything like it. Fellow ACC coaches and former ACC coaches and assistants from her years at State and Elon filed past the open casket, some weeping, some leaning in to touch her folded hands, some nodding in silence. From 10 in the morning until the first notes of music started from the stage almost five hours later, people filed past and paid their last respects to a woman who changed lives through basketball and her courageous battle with cancer.

"Cancer is limited," is how a poem she wrote some time back begins. "Cancer cannot conquer the spirit," she wrote in its ending.

She instructed the pastor at her home church to tell some stories and save some souls. That's what she wanted out of the service. There was very little talk of basketball despite the hundreds of players and coaches in attendance. There was little talk of athletic achievement or great athletic victories. Yow wanted the service to be a celebration of Christianity in a revival-like setting. And she wanted big, loud music.

The cymbals crashed and the kettle drums rolled Friday afternoon as a multitude of people sent Yow home to Gibsonville and then to her maker. There was singing and there was laughter. And there were tears and great sadness. In the end, the congregation stood as one and the combined choirs raised their voices above the orchestra, and everyone sang Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus," shaking the rafters where four basketball goals had been raised up to the ceiling.

And then they wheeled out the casket draped in a Yow family heirloom, a blanket sewed with ribbons from so many funerals through so many years. With the music still ringing in their ears, those who loved Sandra Kay Yow the most sent her home.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin @news-record.com