Karlyn Stephens was raised on competition … the stiffer the better.

As a 12-year-old in Whiteville, she was a top-flight player for the Optimist Dixie Youth Baseball League All-Stars. Before graduating from Whiteville High in 1990, she had lettered four times in three varsity sports – tennis, basketball and softball - and was a unanimous all-conference selection in all three.

She went on to play softball at Louisburg College before transferring to UNC-Wilmington to complete requirements for her degree in physical education.

She joined the East Columbus High School faculty in 1997 and she was named the school’s volleyball coach the following year. Now she is also coach of the ECHS girls basketball team and her first Lady Gators squad is currently carrying an 11-4 record.

Karlyn Stephens relishes every moment she spends on the sidelines and her records in both volleyball and basketball speak for themselves.

What is amazing about Stephens’ teaching and coaching career is that she has been able to sustain the rigors of her duties while battling Hodgkin’s Disease. Hodgkin’s is a cancer that attacks the body’s lymph nodes.

In 1999, Stephens’ was diagnosed with this disease in her chest cavity.

“I was stunned at first because I had always considered myself a very healthy person,” she said. “It was scary, but right from the start, I told myself that this thing wasn’t going lick me. I loved my job and the people I worked with. I wasn’t going to let this set me back.”

With a tremendous amount of support from her parents, Mike and Brenda Stephens, younger brother Hamp, the administration, faculty, staff and entire student body at ECHS, she has used her longtime competitive spirit to meet the foe head-on.

During the long months of weekly radiation treatments, she missed coaching only two volleyball games. When she wasn’t at Duke getting treatments and check-ups she was teaching and coaching.

“I was determined to keep things normal, to keep things upbeat,” she said. “I wanted to be with the kids every day and do all I could to help them.”

Stephens, who recently completed her master’s degree in education from UNC-Wilmington, has emerged with a clean bill of health as she is now required to return to Duke for a check-up just once a year.

“I think it has made me stronger as a person,” she said. “It makes me appreciate all the good things I have going for me even more.

“I feel like the time was right to take on the basketball coaching,” said Stephens, who will turn 34 next Monday. “I had been thinking about it the past couple of years, and when it came open after last season, I felt good about it.”

The Lady Gators are currently carrying a 4-2 record in Waccamaw 2A Conference play. In December, they won the East Columbus Holiday Classic tournament.

ECHS principal Reginald Lewis said that Stephens “is an inspiration to the entire school and community,

“We watched her go through some pretty trying times but she always kept a positive outlook and kept right on going,” Lewis added. “She is a fantastic teacher and we’re really pleased with the job she is doing with our girls athletic teams.”