Remembering Cacie Pope

As word continues to trickle in on the untimely passing of former WKU Lady Topper Cacie Pope, I thought I’d share a few stories I did on her during her brief time in Bowling Green.
Anyone that ever got to talk to Pope and see that infectious smile probably knows just how inspirational her fight with brain cancer truly was.

Published: August 12, 2003
California Dreamin’
6-foot-1 forward leaves West Coast to play for Lady Toppers
If 6-foot-1-inch freshman forward Cacie Pope went with her first impressions, she would be getting ready for her first season of college basketball somewhere on the West Coast. “When the recruiting process started I was like, ‘I don’t think I’m going to Western Kentucky,’ ” Pope said. “They were writing me every day. I knew they were interested in me, but they were starting to get on my nerves.”
But along the way, things changed, and Pope has arrived as the second California native on the 2003-04 roster, joining last year’s Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year Tiffany Porter-Talbert.
Pope, a Lakewood, Calif., native, led Artesia High School to three straight California Interscholastic Federation Division III championships. She was limited to seven points in last year’s championship game, but averaged 22 points in the state playoffs her junior season.
Pope said she was ready to sign elsewhere, most likely Oregon State or the University of San Francisco, but credited Western’s coaching staff with changing her mind about coming to play for Western.
“As time went on, I talked to (assistant) coach (Kyra) Elzy a lot and I started to like the coaching staff,” Pope said.
Her first impressions went out the window after visiting Western last October.
“When I came on my visit, I really liked the area,” Pope said. “They were practicing at the junior high and after practice they walked us down the red carpet and had signs up for us. I really liked that, it made me feel like royalty.”
She admitted that having a fellow Californian on the roster helped make her decision a little easier.
“I talked to Tiffany a little bit,” Pope said. “I know that she came here and adjusted, so it must not be that bad.”
Pope comes in as one of the tallest Lady Toppers on the roster and will be looked upon to help alleviate some of the pressure from losing Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Shala Reese. Pope said there’s a lot of work to be done before practice begins in October.
“Right now, I know I need to get stronger,” Pope said. “I’m not going to improve at all if I don’t get stronger during conditioning.
“I’m just going to come in and do what coach (Mary Taylor) Cowles asks me to do. I know she has expectations for me – I just want to be able to live up to those expectations.”

Published: July 24, 2004
After missing last season with a brain tumor – WKU’s Cacie Pope is enjoying….A bittersweet battle back
For Western Kentucky freshman forward Cacie Pope, this summer has a familiar feel to it. Once again Pope is prepping for her first year on the court with the Lady Toppers. She arrived last summer as one of the prize jewels in a talented crop of freshmen and was well on her way to making an impact on the court.
All the promise and hype changed in an instant on Oct. 11.
It was a day like any other for the 6-foot-1 Lakewood, Calif. native. Pope was on her way back to her dorm when she started to feel faint and dizzy.
“The next thing I knew I was in the hospital,” she said. “They told me I had a seizure, but all I remembered was waking up in the hospital. I didn’t even know what happened until the next morning.”
A few days later doctors found the cause of Pope’s collapse – a brain tumor.
“My heart just sunk,” Cacie’s mom Cheryl Pope said. “I was in shock. This is a kid that has been healthy all her life and then this.
“I was numb. I could think, but I couldn’t react.”
Pope had to undergo surgery in California on Oct. 29, but before she left Western she got the chance to sit in on the team’s first day of practice. It was an experience that Pope best describes as bittersweet.
“I was happy I got to stay for practice, but on the other hand I was sad that I had to watch,” she said. “I waited so long to play Division 1 basketball and on the first day of practice I can’t practice. It was great to be there, but it would have been better if I had been able to practice.”
That day at practice was the first of many rough days for Pope. She spent the first three months of her recovery home in California, longing to return to her teammates at Western.
“It was very difficult,” Pope said. “After my surgery I thought I was going to be back playing in two weeks. I guess I tried to down play it. I treated it like a scratch. Once I got home I was like ‘Oh man! This is serious.'”
Even though Western was thousands of miles a way, the Lady Toppers continued to provide inspiration.
“I remember a day when I thought I was going to be released to come back to school and I wasn’t,” Pope said. “I felt like I hit a brick wall. I wouldn’t talk to anyone. My mom called coach (Mary Taylor) Cowles. Coach Cowles talked to me, my team was in the office and they cheered me up. I don’t know what they did, but they got me out of my depression.”
Pope and the Lady Toppers reunited on Thanksgiving weekend when Western played in the Fresno State tournament. It was a weekend that Pope said she would never forget.
“It was the best weekend ever,” she said. “I was excited. I was back with my family. We were back together and it was like we never missed a beat.”
While Pope had to stay behind after the Fresno tournament, she was given clearance to return to school in January.
It only took one game for Pope to feel the love and support from the Lady Topper fans, when Pope received a surprise tribute prior to the WKU-Illinois-Chicago game.
“They showed me that I belong and that they really do care about me,” Pope said of the tribute. “They showed me that I was part of their family.”
Pope spent the remainder of the season on the sidelines. She was released for light contact in mid-February, but it was a small consolation for a young lady eager to get back on the court.
“Sometimes after the games I would walk back to the dorm by myself and I would cry because I couldn’t be out there with my team,” Pope said. “But I guess being on the bench was better than being at home. I had to look at it like that.
“It was like I was taking two steps forward and one step back. It was very frustrating. It was almost to the point where you just say forget it. But coach Cowles, my mom, my teammates, they kept me strong.”
Pope’s perseverance finally paid off in May, when doctors allowed her to return to full contact and practice.
“The next day I was in the gym playing,” she said. “It was special, at the same time it was frustrating. I couldn’t make a shot. I was out of shape. It was hard. I wanted to say forget it again, but I was like ‘nope’ and stuck it out. I’ve been in the gym every day since.”
Now Pope is looking forward to starting over, just months away from being able to participate in her first practice as a Lady Topper. The past year has changed Pope’s perspective on everything, at the same time reinforcing her decision to come to Western.
“I say to myself ‘Wow! I had a brain tumor and I had brain surgery,'” she said. “It still shocks me to this day, but I can’t dwell on this. I have to move on.
“Everything happens for a reason. I think that if I would have went somewhere else that I wouldn’t have had as much support behind me as I had here with the fans and my team mates.”
Pope’s journey back to the Lady Toppers has served as inspiration for the coaching staff and team mates.
“I don’t think we can really put into words what Cacie’s inspiration means to our team,” Cowles said. “She is such a remarkable young lady. She has a very positive personality, a very hard worker and very passionate about being here at Western Kentucky.”
Cheryl Pope said she can’t express in words how much Western has meant to Cacie’s recovery.
“It starts with the head figure and that’s coach Cowles,” Cheryl Pope said. “Coach Cowles stayed with her and was there by Cacie’s side (after Cacie collapsed).
“The team was phenomenal. They were like blood sisters. They formed a very strong bond. Their spirit and their demeanor kept both of us uplifted.”
While Pope’s journey to the court has taken a lot longer than expected, she said she realizes that the journey could have had a different ending.
“I’m definitely blessed,” she said. “It didn’t have to come out this way. It could have went way worse.
“It’s changed my perspective on life. Don’t take life for granted. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to play basketball again, but everything is in the past now. I just start from here and move on.”

Published: January 14, 2005
Team, fans show signs of support for Pope following surgery
Freshman forward Cacie Pope may have been thousands of miles away during Western Kentucky’s 83-75 win over Arkansas State, but her presence was clearly felt throughout E.A. Diddle Arena. The Western Kentucky players had Pope’s number 54 stitched on a red band on their left shoulders. The Lady Toppers who didn’t dress had white ribbons with the number 54 in honor of Pope, who had surgery to remove a benign brain tumor last week in California. It was Pope’s second surgery since October 2003.
Pope wasn’t just on the minds of Western players – a significant number of Lady Topper fans wore the same ribbon as a show of support.
WKU coach Mary Taylor Cowles said that show of support was appreciated by all the Lady Toppers – especially Pope, who, according to Cowles, listened to the game on the Internet.
“I don’t know if our fans really understand that,” Cowles said. “That means a lot to Cacie. It means a lot to myself, and I know it means a lot to our team. I can’t say enough to our fans on how much we appreciate that kind of support.”

Published: March 1, 2005
Pope returns to visit team
There were plenty of reasons to cheer during Western Kentucky’s 74-57 win over Florida International on Monday at E.A. Diddle Arena. Western honored its seniors, completed an undefeated season at home and clinched a No. 1 seed in next week’s Sun Belt Tournament.
But perhaps the biggest applause of the night came at the under four minute media timeout – when the 2,452 fans in attendance got a chance to welcome back Cacie Pope.
The freshman forward was on the sidelines for the first time since a second surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. Despite having three weeks of radiation treatment remaining, Pope was given medical clearance to spend time in Bowling Green and has been with the team since Friday.
Her visit came as a total surprise to her teammates.
“I don’t think there was any better timing,” WKU coach Mary Taylor Cowles said. “It meant a lot for our young ladies to have her here, and I think it meant a lot to Cacie to be able to get that extra boost and go home now and get through three more really tough weeks for her individually.”
Pope, who is scheduled to return to her California home today, said it meant a lot for her to be able to come and be a part of Monday’s win.
“This was probably one of the best weekends of my life,” she said. “It was important to me. I wanted to be there for my seniors and make sure we won the game and got the No. 1 seed.”
Pope, who had a similar surgery in October 2003, said her treatment is going well and is looking forward to returning this summer.
“I feel really well,” Pope said. “I feel like pretty much nothing is wrong.”
She added that visiting her teammates has served as a big inspiration.
“It definitely helped me,” Pope said. “It’s like a boost of energy coming here. It keeps my spirits high. At home I was starting to miss my teammates. Seeing them has really helped me out.”
Her visit helped her teammates as well.
“I wish we could take her hostage and keep her here, but we have to let her go again,” junior guard Tiffany Porter-Talbert said. “She’s always with us, even when she’s not here. She’s in our prayers. I feel her in the court. We just feel like we want to win for Cacie.”

Published: June 14, 2009
Former Western Kentucky Lady Topper Cacie Pope continues to show improvement after surviving a four-car accident near her home in Lakewood, Calif.

According to her mother, Cheryl Pope, Cacie – who has had numerous surgeries since October 2003 for benign brain tumors – was riding with her older sister, Jovonne, and her niece Kiara Crockett-Pope when their car collided with three other cars on May 16. Jovonne was killed in the accident and Kiara suffered several injuries, but was released from the hospital last week.
Cheryl said the impact was so great that the molding between the front and back driver-side windows was pushed all the way over to the passenger’s side and the roof buckled. Cacie was thrown from the car and suffered head trauma.
Cheryl added that doctors told her that Cacie’s past brain surgeries – the last one performed in January – saved her life.
“Whenever you have surgery in the brain, it leaves pockets,” Cheryl Pope said. “When she had the accident, her brain had the room to swell without causing massive, detrimental injuries to her. Had she not had brain surgery, she would have died.”
The fact that Cacie’s past health problems led to her survival of a potentially fatal car crash has not been overlooked by Cheryl or the rest of the Pope family.
“We don’t know why when we go through it, but in the long run – if we’re patient – it is revealed to us why we went through it,” Cheryl said.
At first, Cacie did not remember the accident – thinking she was still at WKU, had a seizure and needed brain surgery.
Cheryl said Cacie’s memory is starting to come back, as are her spirits. She’s starting to remember she was in a car crash, but doesn’t know about her sister yet.
She has begun physical therapy – walking five feet with a walker and help from physical therapists earlier this week – and is about to be moved to a rehab facility.
“She’s coming along nicely,” Cheryl said.
Cacie appeared in 16 games in two seasons before she was sidelined after having two operations to remove brain tumors in a three-year span from 2003-06.
She was on course to graduate in December, but now will likely be in school through next May, at the earliest.
Cheryl said Cacie continues to talk with head coach Mary Taylor Cowles regularly by phone, calling Cowles’ support phenomenal.
“That is her ‘other mom,’ ” Cheryl said. “The support she gets from coach Cowles and her staff has helped play a tremendous part in her getting better.”
And Cheryl is confident that with continued support from the WKU staff, team and fans, Cacie’s condition will continue to improve.
“All of the prayer that has flooded the heavens has carried us through this,” Cheryl said. “It’s kept us strong. That’s what we live by and it does work. We can feel that. That’s all my family asks for – please keep the prayers coming because they are working.”