BHS to honor Tasha Butts Friday

Published 8:44 am Tuesday, October 15, 2024

By Matthew Brown

mbrown@unionrecorder.com

It was just one year ago, during the annual observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, that Baldwin County and the women’s collegiate basketball world lost one of its up and coming stars in the coaching ranks.

A Baldwin High Distinguished Alumni as a Bravette player in the late 1990s, Tasha Butts lost her two-year battle with breast cancer Oct. 23 at the age of 41.

It was four months earlier that Butts received her first head coaching job in women’s college basketball at Georgetown University. She had served on the staffs at Georgia Tech, UCLA and LSU after playing for the legendary Pat Summit on Tennessee Lady Vol on teams that played for the national championship.

On Friday, Oct. 18, the Baldwin County School District, partnering with Atrium Health Navicent, the Georgia Alliance for Breast Cancer and the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, is hosting the first Tasha Butts Day.

The program begins with the Kay Yow Cancer Fund Empowerment Tour for students at 9:30 a.m.

At 11 a.m., the program will include an awarding of grants from the Kay Yow Fund and the Georgia Beast Cancer Alliance to Atrium Health Navicent and a proclamation of Tasha Butts Day.

On Saturday, Oct. 19, Atrium Health Navicent Baldwin’s Breast Imaging Center will offer no-cost mammograms. Call 478-633-2003 to schedule an appointment.

Audra Smith is not only the vice president of Play4Kay, but she is also, like Butts, a Distinguished Alumni of Baldwin High School who played basketball for the Bravettes and then the University of Virginia before coaching at the collegiate level at her alma mater (she tried to persuade Butts to play for her at UVA), UAB, Clemson and South Carolina State before retiring in 2022. She has been with the Kay Yow Fund since.

“I am super excited to acknowledge Tasha and her battle and her advocacy for promoting the assistance of quality cancer healthcare for under-resourced women,” said Smith in a telephone interview with The Union-Recorder from her home in Birmingham. “We wanted to do something in memory of Tasha. She was very open and transparent about her journey. She did some videos for us to help uplift other women who were battling. She did speaking engagements at our annual Play4Kay game at N.C. State.”

North Carolina State is where Kay Yow coached women’s basketball for 34 years even as she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. She passed away in January 2009.

Smith said Northside Hospital, where Butts was treated, directed the Fund to Atrium Health Navicent to contribute to its mobile mammography unit. She said work toward this day began after the 2024 NCAA Women’s Final Four, and the idea blossomed to bring the Empowerment Tour to Baldwin High. This is an educational presentation aimed at changing the narrative of all cancers affecting women within their own families and communities.

“There are so many myths out there about cancer … people getting the wrong information,” said Smith. “There is so much fear, mistrust, and there are a lot of barriers to quality cancer healthcare. One of the things we promote is cancer doesn’t discriminate, so why should its care.”

Smith said the session with the students will involve her and one of Yow’s former players. She also said members of the Butts family will be at the program later in the morning to make the check presentations.

“Originally, we were hoping the mobile mammography unit would be on-site at the high school Friday for students to tour it,” said Smith. “If you’ve never seen it, all you know is what people tell you. Some people tell you horror stories about what a mammogram’s all about. This is not limited to women. Men can get breast cancer as well.

“But there’s a problem with the unit, so it won’t be on site. On Saturday, we were going to be able to provide a maximum of 60 no-cost mammograms to underserved women in the community. We had to pivot … it actually turned out better. The breast imaging center there next to the hospital on North Cobb Street is opening their doors to us from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. We will be able to provide twice as many (no-cost) mammograms. I know this is something (Butts) would definitely want.”

Smith related how Butts — who knew she could make her co-payments — was always concerned about those who were afraid to get a mammogram or get additional treatment if diagnosed or couldn’t get time off work.

The Baldwin School District lost one of its own in June when former Teacher of the Year for Oak Hill Middle School Seticia Smith lost her battle with breast cancer at the age of 36. Audra Smith said a member of the school faculty will speak about Seticia Smith during Friday’s program as the current students knew ‘Coach T’ well.

“Cancer’s personal,” she said. “We all know of someone, whether it be a family member or friend or friend of a friend that had an experience with cancer.”