Award with Roots in Resilience
Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Mark Byington was recently presented with the Dave Loos Award, an honor that celebrates individuals who confront cancer with remarkable strength and perseverance.
The accolade bears the name of former Austin Peay State University coach Dave Loos, who publicly disclosed his own cancer diagnosis in 2017 and has since become a symbol of resilience for the sports community.
Byington’s recognition stems from a personal cause: his girlfriend, Katina Kangelaris, was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer shortly before the team’s January victory over Kentucky, prompting the coach to amplify her story in hopes of encouraging early detection.
By sharing Kangelaris’s journey, Byington inspired one of her brother’s friends to schedule a colonoscopy, a screening that uncovered pre‑cancerous polyps and led to their removal, underscoring the tangible impact of awareness.
The story arrives amid a concerning trend: recent data indicate that colon cancer incidence is climbing by more than 2 percent each year among adults under 50, accounting for 45 percent of new cases in patients younger than 65.
Health officials now recommend screening beginning at age 45, and even earlier for those with a family history, a shift that reflects the disease’s growing presence in younger populations.