After leading her team to a national championship while battling breast cancer, Penn State women’s volleyball head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley will be honored with a special award at ESPN’s The ESPYS, the network announced on Monday.
Schumacher-Cawley will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance during the annual show honoring the year’s top sports performers, which will air live on ABC at 8 p.m. on July 16 from Los Angeles.
Although she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in September 2024, Schumacher-Cawley continued to coach her team without missing a single practice.
Three months later she became the first female head coach to win an NCAA Division I women’s volleyball national championship when the Nittany Lions defeated Louisville on Dec. 22 for the program’s eighth title.
Schumacher-Cawley completed chemotherapy treatment in February.
“Her journey has been an inspiration, exemplifying the power of perseverance and hope in overcoming personal and professional challenges,” ESPN wrote in a news release
Schumacher-Cawley was named an ambassador for the V Foundation for Cancer Research in April. The V Foundation, founded by the late basketball coach and commentator Jim Valvano and ESPN, has funded nearly $400 million in cancer research grants in the country.
Through its endowment, the foundation covers administrative expenses, awarding all direct donations to cancer research and recovery programs.
After his year-long battle with adenocarcinoma, Valvano died in April 1993 and the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance was established in his honor in 2007.
Past recipients of the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance include Jim Kelly in 2018, Rob Mendez in 2019, Taquarius Wair in 2020, Chris Nikic in 2021, Dick Vitale in 2022, Liam Hendriks in 2023 and Dawn Staley in 2024.
