Kaye was a basketball star at North Carolina State, where she met Bill, a football star. They married when Bill was a Browns linebacker. Bill later was a Browns assistant coach, before becoming the Steelers' longtime and successful head coach.
Bill Cowher and his wife, Kaye, during the Feb., 2006 parade in Pittsburgh celebrating the Steelers' Super Bowl win. Kaye Cowher, the wife of former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher, died Friday of skin cancer at age 54.
She was with her family in North Carolina when she passed away. The Cowhers live in Raleigh. Bill and Kaye met at North Carolina State, where Bill played football and Kaye played basketball. They had three daughters.
Bill Cowher coached the Steelers from 1992 to 2006, leading them to a 161-99-1 record, including 12-9 in the postseason and the 2005 season Super Bowl championship.
The Cowhers married in 1981, when Bill was a backup linebacker and special teams player for the Cleveland Browns. Bill was a Browns assistant coach to head coach Marty Schottenheimer from 1985-88; in charge of the special teams the first two seasons, and coaching the defensive backfield the next two years.
Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on the passing away of Kaye Cowher.
He writes of her athletic achievements:
The Cowhers met when they were classmates at North Carolina State University in 1976. Mr. Cowher was on the football team and Mrs. Cowher, the former Kaye Young, and her twin sister, Faye, played basketball.
Tall at 5-foot-11, Mrs. Cowher displayed an inside power game that made her one of the first young women in her home state to receive a college athletic scholarship.
Her teams at North Carolina State went 21-3 and 29-5, respectively, winning the inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball title in 1978 with a 9-0 record and ranking No. 3 nationally.
Faye and Kaye later played for the Women's Professional Basketball League, where Mrs. Cowher was among the pioneers in the early days of Title IX. They played one season with the New York Stars and two with the New Jersey Gems, competing against notable stars Carol Blazejowski and Nancy Lieberman.
After the league folded in 1981, she married Mr. Cowher, who was then playing for the Cleveland Browns.