SLO County volleyball coach dies after battle with colon cancer. ‘Her heart was so big’

Coast Union High School volleyball teacher Pam Kenyon died May 12 after a years-long battle with colon cancer.

She was 58 years old.

Kenyon launched her career as the volleyball coaching career at Coast Union High 29 years ago, becoming the winningest and longest serving coach in school history. She also taught science at the school.

Kenyon was treasured because of her classy mentoring skills.

Kenyon began her battle with colon cancer in 2013 and was declared “cancer free” several times only to have the disease creep back into her life. She rarely missed a practice despite being physically hammered by chemotherapy month after month.

Kenyon retired last fall.

Her final six months were spent at the Templeton home of her sister, Roche Nystrom, located just a few blocks from Kenyon’s home.

“We put her with Wilshire Hospice last week, and they were wonderful,” Nystrom wrote in a text. “They kept her comfortable … which is a blessing.”

Nystrom, a retired Cuesta College volleyball coach, said Kenyon’s chemo treatments were halted in March of this year. “We stopped chemo because other parts of her body were shutting down. It was taking a toll on her … her mind was foggy … but she kept fighting.”

In honor of Kenyon’s legacy, the Coast Unified School District board of trustees has approved naming the basketball court, Kenyon Court, Nystrom said.

“We are so pleased. It is such a thoughtful and honoring thing for Coast Union to do for Pam,” she said. “We shared it with Pam before she passed.”

Kenyon graduated from Coast Union High in 1981, and returned to the school to launch a successful coaching career in 1990.

Her record at Coast Union High included three California Interscholastic Federation championships — in 1993, 1998 and 2011 — and 19 league championships, from 1990 to 1994, in 1996, from 1998 to 2001 and from 2010 to 2019.

Moreover, Kenyon’s teams racked up a noteworthy 67-5 record in the Coast Valley League between 2012 and 2019, her last year of coaching.

Former players and others expressed their thoughts about Kenyon via email.

Former Coast Union High School players, others remember coach

Teri Lord operates the scoreboard for sports games at Coast Union, and she worked every one of Kenyon’s volleyball games beginning in 2005.

“What I remember most about Pam was her undying love for the game and for each of her players,” Lord recalled. “I never saw her lose her temper, show disappointment in a player or strategy gone wrong.”

Often Kenyon’s teams came from behind “to beat teams that were taller, more experienced and stronger,” Lord wrote. “She knew how to bring the best out of each player.”

The coach even made sure her players thanked Lord after each game.

“Pam never forgot my birthday in October,” Lord wrote. “She had a card signed by every player and cupcakes ready for all to eat following the game.”

Skyler Moon was a powerful middle hitter for Kenyon in 2008, and her team was one of 16 high school teams in the state to make it to the final four. Moon went on to play college volleyball with skills honed during her time at Coast Union.

“Pam was such a great person, coach and teacher,” Moon said. “Her joy and passion for teaching and coaching (was) remarkable.”

“She taught me how to work hard but to have fun while doing it,” the former Coast Union player added. “Pam (was) a warrior and battled hard. Her laughter and smile was radiant.”

Sophie Flemion was part of the Bronco volleyball team that won an exciting CIF Division 5A championship in 2011.

While Flemion was named CIF Division 5A Player of the Year, Kenyon was named CIF Southern Section Division 5A Coach of the Year.

“Her heart was so big that her athletes weren’t the only ones who felt special,” Flemion wrote. “She made all her students feel welcome and important as well.”

Flemion took Kenyon’s anatomy class and said, “I can picture her at the front of her classroom, filling our brains with information that kept us wanting more.”

She recalled having many discussions with the coach about kinesiology while traveling in the school van to away games. “I was so intrigued that I ended up getting a (bachelor’s of science degree) in kinesiology and physical education,” Flemion wrote.

Flemion also recalled “how caring she was and how much she did for her athletes. … She made a memorable imprint on all of us volleyball girls.”

Reagan Kniffen, who was a player for Kenyon and also an assistant coach for Kenyon’s teams, wrote that the coach “made playing fun and she made working hard fun.”

Practices were “always a ball … from wearing tutus and running in the rain, sweating buckets and running sprints,” Kniffen explained.

“She really had a way with the girls, she added. “You could sit and mess around with her, but when work needed to be done, you would know when to switch gears.”

“That’s part of the reason why you’d want to work so hard for her,” Kniffen wrote. She was your friend, and you didn’t want to let her down. You wanted her to know that you had her back just the way she had yours.”

“Everything the volleyball program was, and everything that it will be down the road, is all because of her,” Kniffen continued. “I have yet to experience that same bond with any other coach.”

Pam Kenyon memorial service

Kenyon’s family is planning a memorial service to be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Covell Ranch in Cambria.

This story was originally published May 15, 2021 at 5:00 AM.