Jamie Cavey Lang, former Iowa women’s basketball player and color commentator, dies at age 41

IOWA CITY — Jan Jensen still vividly remembers the conversation and the sofa in the living room of the family’s Cavey home in Mechanicsville.

“Just the best people,” Jensen recalled Monday. “There was Jamie (Cavey), the big brown eyes and that post sitting on the sofa. She didn’t know if she could do it at this level, but Lisa (Bluder) and I were pretty sure she could get good if she worked on it.

“Jamie came to Iowa a little unsure, but she left as one of the most effective players we’ve ever had.”

A member of Bluder’s first women’s basketball recruiting class at the University of Iowa and the era’s first successful post draft, Jamie Cavey Lang died of cancer on Saturday.

She was 41.

“Jamie was a character, the life of the party,” said Bluder, who retired last spring. “She loved to have fun.

“When we went to visit her towards the end, she said, ‘No sad eyes. No sad eyes.’ We should have happy eyes around her.”

Visitation will be 4-7pm Thursday at The Celebration Farm, located 4696 Robin Woods Lane NE, Iowa City. Funeral Mass will be Friday at 10.30 in St. Mary Catholic Church, Solon.

After leading North Cedar to the Class 2A state championship as a junior in 2000, Cavey Lang played for the Hawkeyes from 2001 to 2005.

“We just got here and we needed bodies,” Bluder said. “Jamie was a high post presence and she lived near Iowa City. We thought she had a chance to be good. She was gifted, but she wasn’t skilled yet.

“She was going to Illinois State. Obviously, she had a very good career here.”

At Iowa, Cavey Lang collected 1,265 career points (27th in program history), 506 rebounds (31st) and 94 blocks (eighth). She was a two-time all-Big Ten performer, earning second-team honors as a senior, and was a member of the 2002 and 2004 NCAA tournament teams.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master’s degree at Iowa and later played professional basketball in Europe.

Eventually, she spent seven seasons alongside play-by-play announcer Rob Brooks as the women’s basketball color commentator on the Hawkeye Radio Network.

She was on the phone throughout Iowa’s 2023 Final Four run, before her cancer diagnosis.

“More than anything, Jamie was one of those people that you immediately liked,” Brooks said. “Her personality came through in our broadcasts; she was very enthusiastic and very energetic.

“With Jamie, what was going to happen was going to happen. When Caitlin (Clark) made that shot to beat Indiana (in 2023), I thought Jamie was going to jump on the field.

“There was nothing fake about her. She loved Iowa women’s basketball. She loved the coaches and the players and they loved her right guard.”

Cavey Lang returned for one game last season as Clark became the leading scorer in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history.

“I think she felt good enough to play several games last season, but she put every ounce of energy into being the best mother and wife she could,” Jensen said.

“She loved – capital ‘L’ – her family and friends and she was so full of life and fun.”

Cavey Lang is survived by her husband Mike, children Vincent, Bennett and Sydney, parents Patrick and Pam Cavey, siblings Ann (Jack) Jameson, Kelsie (Chad) Dotterer and Jason (Stacey) Cavey, grandmother Sharon Mertka, paternal and maternal in-laws Ken and Jayne Lang, sisters-in-law Amie (Joe) Stewart, Melissa (Mark) Storm, Abbie (Eric) Mahoney and Chantelle (Bob) Foote and many nieces and nephews.

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