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

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

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

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

She was 41.

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

“When we visited her toward the end, she said, ‘No sad eyes.’ No sad eyes.’ We had to have happy eyes around her.”

Visitation will be held Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Celebration Farm, 4696 Robin Woods Lane NE, Iowa City. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Mary Catholic Church in Solon.

After leading North Cedar to the Class 2A state championship as a junior in 2000, Cavey Lang played for the Hawkeyes from 2001-05.

“We had just arrived and needed bodies,” Bluder said. “Jamie was a big personality and lived near Iowa City. We thought she had a chance of being good. She was talented, but not yet skilled.

“She wanted to go to Illinois State. She obviously had a very good career here.”

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

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

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

She pitched throughout Iowa’s 2023 Final Four run before being diagnosed with cancer.

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

“With Jamie, whatever 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 court.

“There was nothing wrong with her. She loved Iowa women’s basketball. She loved the coaches and the players, and they loved her right back.”

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

“I think she felt good enough to play more 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, father and mother. 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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