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UConn Women’s Basketball Uses Custom NIL Jerseys to Raise Money for Cancer

Huskies and Campus Ink’s NIL Store launch pink jerseys to support the Kay Yow Cancer Fund

Noah Henderson

UConn Women’s Basketball Uses Custom NIL Jerseys to Raise Money for Cancer
UConn Women’s Basketball Uses Custom NIL Jerseys to Raise Money for Cancer /
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Amidst the ever-changing and uncertain landscape of NIL, the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team is using its power for good. The most iconic brand in women’s college basketball - with eleven national titles, ten of which taking place after Y2K - it is challenging to find any sports program that has been able to maintain success at such a high level of competition. Through the prestige of the Husky brand and star power of players like 2021 AP Player of the Year, Naismith Player of the Year, and Wooden Award Winner, Paige Bueckers, the program is leveraging their prowess to help create meaningful change.

Through their NIL merchandising partner, the NIL Store, a NIL focused arm of collegiate apparel industry leader Campus Ink, UConn women’s basketball players will be offering custom pink jerseys for their upcoming game on February 4 against in-conference opponent St. John’s.

UConn, like many programs around the nation, will be taking part in the 19th Annual Play4Kay Game tradition. Teams across the nation will wear pink jerseys to honor late North Carolina State Coach Kim Yow. In 2009, Coach Yow passed away after a 22-year public battle with breast cancer.

While very stylish, the new player licensed jerseys offer more than an exclusive look; part of the proceeds from every pink jersey sold by the UConn NIL Store will go to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. The charitable organization has given over $8.2 Million in grants to fund cancer research and help those battling cancer in underserved communities. The Kay Yow Cancer Fund partners with the V Foundation, an organization with a parallel mission started in honor of another legendary North Carolina State Coach basketball coach, Jim Valvano. 

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Noah Henderson
NOAH HENDERSON

Professor Noah Henderson teaches in the sport management department at Loyola University Chicago. Outside the classroom, he advises companies, schools, and collectives on Name, Image, and Likeness best practices. His academic research focuses on the intersection of law, economics, and social consequences regarding college athletics, NIL, and sports gambling. Before teaching, Prof. Henderson was part of a team that amended Illinois NIL legislation and managed NIL collectives at the nation’s most prominent athletic institutions while working for industry leader Student Athlete NIL. He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law in Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor of Economics from Saint Joseph’s University, where he was a four-year letter winner on the golf team. Prof. Henderson is a native of San Diego, California, and a former golf CIF state champion with Torrey Pines High School. Outside of athletics, he enjoys playing guitar, hanging out with dogs, and eating California burritos. You can follow him on Twitter: @NoahImgLikeness. 

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