UC Davis women’s athletics coaching pioneer Kathy DeYoung dies at 68 years old
Kathy DeYoung, who coached three different UC Davis teams during a career that stretched over four decades, died after a long bout with cancer, the school announced this week. She was 68.
A Salinas native, DeYoung was a driving force of using Title IX, the law that mandates gender equity, to further sports for women at UCD. She coached the most-successful era of Davis softball, from 1979-2004. She coached the volleyball program from 1978 to 1987 just as that sport was truly coming of age in women’s athletics, and she was the first coach in UCD’s women’s golf program history, leading that charge from 2005 to 2008.
“Kathy was a leader every step of the way from the time Title IX was passed in the early 70s to continuing to advocate and provide opportunities for girls and women in sports until she retired in 2008,” said retired UC Davis coach and administrator, Pam Gill-Fisher. “Her professionalism and determination to do the right thing was admired by all.”
Said UCD athletic director Rocko DeLuca in a news release, “When you think about excellence at UC Davis, it is hard to find a more perfect example than Kathy DeYoung. Her positive impacts on our softball, volleyball, and women’s golf programs are still very much felt to this day, and her winning attitude was absorbed by so many of our (now) student-athlete alumnae. We will miss seeing her around campus, at the golf course, and at special events. Her legacy is strong and will forever be felt in our athletics department.”
In volleyball, DeYoung led UCD to three fifth-place NCAA finishes and went 168-97 overall. In softball, DeYoung led the Aggies to a 777-402-2 record, 11th all-time for Division II coaches when she retired from that sport. She led UCD softball to 13 playoff appearances, eight conference championships and four third-place finishes in the NCAA championships, and her 2003 team won the Division II national championship.
DeYoung was a an avid golfer, and a good one as a U.S. Golf Teaching Federation professional, making her a natural to head the school’s women’s program from scratch. Those Aggies enjoyed immediate success, including the 2006 team, with all freshmen, winning the Division I Independents Championship by 30 strokes, earning DeYoung national coaching honors.
DeYoung also coached softball, volleyball and badminton at Temple University from 1976-78.
A celebration of life for DeYoung will be held this fall.
Remembering Keith Fontes
Keith Fontes, a cornerback at Christian Brothers, Cosumnes River College in the early 1970s and who played at Oregon State and Sacramento State, died on May 17 from a strike. He was 64.
Fontes is the son of longtime area high school coach Mel Fontes, now retired, and he had three uncles who coached in the NFL, including Wayne Fontes, the one-time head coach of the Detroit Lions (1988-96). Mel and wife Connie Fontes lost another son, Kris, to illness in 1997. He, too, was a high school football star.
A Catholic Mass for Keith Fontes will be held at Peter & Paul Church in Rocklin on June 8, at 11 a.m., followed by a reception.