On March 4, 2025, Extramile Arena was filled with a sea of orange to raise awareness for kidney cancer in honor of two teammates’ fathers.
The Women’s Basketball guards, Dani Bayes and Jayda Clark, formed a bond beyond basketball, navigating their fathers battle against kidney cancer.
“You could just tell that our team had so much to play for,” said senior guard, Jayda Clark. “It felt like there was so much love in the air, and like our dads were there with us. It was an amazing night.”
The team came out with a victory over Utah State, winning 72-59 following a two game losing streak.
Clarks’ father passed away on Jan. 5, 2024, and months later, Bayes’ father was also diagnosed with kidney cancer and continues to fight the disease.
With support from each other, their teammates and all of their coaches, the duo was able to find a silver lining through this tragedy.
Jayda Clark’s story
Clark and Jay had a special bond that helped shape her into the person and athlete she is today.
“My dad grew up playing basketball and I feel like he saw way more potential in me than I even saw in myself,” Clark said. “He really pushed me which caused tension sometimes, but I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for him.”
Jay would show up to every Boise State basketball game right when the doors would open to claim one specific seat: J24, which is Clark’s jersey number.
“It was a superstition he had,” Clark said. “One day I asked ‘Why do you always sit there?’ and he said ‘It’s J24. Why wouldn’t I sit there?’.”
After Jay’s passing, their Assistant Coach, Maggie Cornelius made a sign to reserve that seat for him for every home game.
“Even before he got the diagnosis, she would say that he sat in the same chair and I always remembered that,” Cornelius said. “When the news happened, it just clicked that I wanted to do that for her. She’s the person that will do anything for anybody, so if I’m able to give back in some way, that’s what I wanted to do.”
Clark’s father, Jay, was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer on Nov. 3, 2023, and was given a 3 percent chance to live.
He passed away just two months later.
A day after his passing, the Broncos were scheduled to play in a game against the University of New Mexico and the team found out the morning before taking off to Albuquerque.
“From the moment we were told, we were automatically like ‘What can we do?’ ‘How can we be there for Jayda?’,” said Cornelius. “We wanted to do whatever we could to be there for Jayda because she definitely was one to be there for us.”
Clark watched the game from her phone that day and every team member wore an orange ribbon — the symbol for kidney cancer awareness.
The Broncos came out winning 64-56 and Bayes hit a career-high 21 points.
Two weeks later, the team reunited with Clark in Richland, Washington to attend Jay’s funeral.
“He was like my best friend. He would do anything for me, and he knew me better than I knew myself,” said Clark. “He was like the heartbeat and glue of our family … he gave me a lot of guidance and purpose.”
Dani Bayes’s story
In May 2025, Bayes returned to her hometown of Brisbane, Australia for the summer and her parents informed her of her father’s health concerns.
At first the doctors thought it was gallstones, but week by week her father, Leon, continued to worsen to the point where Bayes couldn’t even process what was happening.
“It went from gallstones to something else, to cancer and kidney cancer, and then it started traveling through his blood, and it was just a mess,” Bayes said. “It just got worse and worse. I remember one of the first people I told was Jayda because she had just gone through it.”
Although Bayes couldn’t bear to leave her father in this condition and go back to Boise State, he made a promise to her that he’d do everything in his power to fight the cancer.
To this day, Leon continues to fight and is now in the process of chemotherapy.
“My dad played a super consistent role in my life. I always remember him being super active when I was younger and doing all the fun stuff that dads do,” Bayes said. “He was like the glue for my family, especially.”
Bayes is the only one in her family to have a talent for basketball, but says that her father is the one that instilled her competitive spirit.
From all the way across the world, Leon supports Bayes in her basketball career by watching every one of her games on TV.
Bond beyond basketball
Bayes’ dad got diagnosed with kidney cancer six months after Clark’s dad passed away and the duo has been inseparable ever since.
“I really feel like there are no coincidences and God gave us to each other for this reason,” Clark said.
In addition, Clark and Bayes became roommates that same year purely by fate.
Clark’s roommate ended up transferring, opening up a spot for Bayes to move in.
“I’m proud of both of us for everything that we’ve done because we’ve handled it with a lot of grace,” Clark said. “If there’s anything we can do to raise awareness so someone else doesn’t have to go through the same thing or maybe they can catch it earlier, we’ll do it.”
After watching a basketball game on her TV honoring breast cancer, Clark came up with the idea to have their senior night game serve as a kidney cancer awareness night as a way for both of their father’s be a part of it.
Clark brought the idea to Bayes and together they figured it out with the coaching staff.
Because orange is the kidney cancer awareness month color, the first 300 fans in the stadium received orange wristbands and the first 250 received an orange t-shirt.
“We want to thank Bronco Nation for coming out to support and wearing orange,” Clark said. “It took me days to process it all, it was awesome.”
The silver lining
Through this experience, Clark and Bayes have gained a new perspective on life geared toward being grateful for every moment and appreciating the little things in life.
“It’s important to try and see the good in it, even though it’s really hard,” Clark said. “Everybody that we’ve met, and all the relationships we’ve built have gotten so much closer. There is good in it if you choose to look for it,”
On top of leaning on each other through everything, their coaches and teammates have shown immense support, helping them get through all the hard times.
“This team is just like no other, they really all have each other’s backs,” Cornelius said. “Something that Coach P [Head Coach Gordy Presnell] really talks about is that we’re not only playing for Boise State, we’re playing for each other and doing whatever it takes.”
“They’ve done so much for us like I can’t even put it into words,” Clark said. “Our program is so special. Our coaches and teammates understand us so well and if I’m having an off day, they know me and it feels so nice to not have to explain myself all the time.”
Clark and Bayes want to continue to see the good in this experience by raising awareness and helping those who might be going through something similar.
“Just take it one day at a time. It’s either you let everything become really overwhelming or you just ask yourself ‘What do I have to get done today?’.” said Bayes. “And people love and support you more than you know. Once you put yourself out there and admit that you’re struggling, I can guarantee you that someone’s going to be right there to help you.”
