Every year, on a day early in October, Sun Devil athletes board a bus at five in the morning to head out to downtown Phoenix.
It’s been a tradition at ASU for the last 10 years.
One hundred fifteen student athletes were on hand Sunday morning, handing out water and helping support the thousands of runners in this year’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Phoenix.
For the freshman athletes, getting involved is a big part of becoming a part of the Sun Devil family.
Former ASU diver Natalie Burgess, who is now an academic coach, helped organize ASU’s affiliation with the event.
“Having the freshman student athletes do community service and teaching them the value of helping the community; we have been doing it for a long time,” Burgess said. “It shows tremendous dedication on their part.”
It has been that tradition of helping that has drawn the eye of one of ASU’s coaches in particular.
Missy Farr-Kaye, the associate women’s golf coach, has had her own battle with breast cancer not once, but twice.
A Sun Devil for life, Farr-Kaye competed with her sister, Heather Farr, on the ASU golf team. She finished her career by winning the 1990 National Championship, and then turned pro.
After her sister passed away in 1993 because of the disease, Farr-Kaye received shocking news.
“Being diagnosed with breast cancer just a couple of years after Heather had died was extremely traumatic,” Farr-Kaye said. “It was the only experience I had had in someone dying from a disease and then watching them die in an extremely painful way. I was absolutely terrified.”
Farr-Kaye credits her sister for helping her. She had been screened for the disease early because of what had happened.
Thirteen years after her original diagnosis, Farr-Kaye has even able to get back to the game she loves.
“I feel every day, every month and every year that I have is an absolute blessing,” Farr-Kaye said. “More than likely that is because of watching Heather’s disease and her dying, which led to my early diagnosis.”
Through her recovery Farr-Kaye was able to get back to playing amateur golf, winning the Arizona State Amateur Championship twice and the 2002 Arizona Women’s Open.
However the disease returned in July 2008, and the devoted mother of three had to battle it out again.
“There were some life lessons learned at a young age particularly for our players that had never been through or witnessed anyone go through something as traumatic as I was going through,” Farr-Kaye said. “As hard as it was for me. I think it proved to be a great learning experience for them.”
Nobody will ever know whether it was that added emotion or just the pure talent that drove ASU to the National Championship that year, but the difficulties Farr-Kaye had helped build a bond that still remains in the athletic department to this day.
“Anytime that we can support someone in our department that has gone through breast cancer or really any disease it’s a good thing. It’s a pleasure to have her on staff and to know her story,” Burgess said.
ASU’s women’s golf team’s lone freshman Noemi Jimenez, who has never been to the U.S. before the start of this semester, not only was excited to participate in the event but she also noted how pleasant it was to interact with other freshmen student-athletes.
“I feel on my team that I am the new one but here everybody is new,” Jimenez said.
No team was as well represented as the women’s basketball squad, which brought the entire roster to help support the race.
Seniors Alex Earl and Kimberly Brandon pointed how great it was for the athletes to give back to their fans that came out to support Breast Cancer awareness.
“We get a lot of our fans who come out here. So it’s nice to interact with them, see them and cheer them on,” Earl said. “A lot of these people come out to support us. It’s always exciting to have the ASU athletes come and support our fans that come to our games.”
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
